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Soccer-Nigeria's Njoku hit with three-game ban for World Cup elbow

June 15 (Reuters) - Nigeria defender Ugo Njoku has been banned for three games for lashing out at Australia's Samantha Kerr with her elbow during her side's 2-0 defeat in their World Cup Group D match in Winnipeg. The offence by Njoku, who came on as a 52nd-minute substitute, went unpunished during the game but FIFA's disciplinary committee later examined the video footage and handed her the ban. With Nigeria unlikely to progress in the tournament, Njoku will miss the final group game against the United States plus the country's next two official matches. (Reporting by Philip O'Connor in Stockholm; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)