All eyes on Team Nigeria as African Games begin

By Daily Sports Nigeria on March 8, 2024

As the 13th African Games officially begins on Friday (today) in Ghana, attention will be on Team Nigeria to continue their impressive performance among the 53 countries at the Games, having featured in all the editions since its inception in 1965, The PUNCH reports.

The 2023 Games hold in Ghana till March 23 across three cities Accra, Cape Coast and Kumasi.

For this year’s edition, there are 358 Nigerian athletes vying for medals in 25 sports among the 23 main events and seven demonstration sports in Ghana. Some of the events, such as athletics, badminton, cycling, boxing, swimming, table tennis and triathlon will serve as qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Events like table tennis, badminton, cricket and football started before today’s opening ceremony.

In the history of the Games, Nigeria has usually impressed and are second in the overall medals table behind Egypt with 1,326 medals comprising 470 gold, 428 silver as well as 428 bronze and expectations are high about sustaining the momentum in Ghana.

Former Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Phemmy Adetula, is confident that the contingent will not disappoint Nigerians.

“Our area of strength has been athletics, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting and even table tennis. So, this edition will not be an exception. I was hoping Edem and Aruna Quadri would win the singles titles in the table tennis event but that remains one of the areas Egypt usually dominate at the Games. So, in order to beat them in future Games, we have to build sports like fencing, where they pack medals,” Adetula said.

“I also like what the AFN is doing by going with some home-based athletes and I don’t think that will hinder their chances. We have African champions and world champions and this is how we can also test the strength of the upcoming ones.”

Nigerian female wrestlers, Blessing Oborududu and Odunayo Adekuoroye are also some of the favourites to continue their dominance on the continent and they are joined by two debutants as Nigeria hopes to do a clean sweep of medals in female wrestling.

“We still have the African Championships and other 2024 Olympic Games qualifying series coming up after this, so, we are also using the African Games to measure up while we hope to do better than our previous outings. In fact, we want to do six over six. This time around we have two debutants in Esther Kolawole and Christianah Ogunsanya,” female wrestling coach Purity Akuh told The PUNCH.

Cricket is one of the sports debuting at the Games, with Nigeria’s male and female teams in contention for a 2028 Olympic Games spot.

President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata, also expects the teams to scale their daunting tests against some of the best teams on the continent at the Games.

“We are very optimistic about our chances. Irrespective of what happens at the Games in Accra, we fancy the fact that in just a short while, our two national teams are ranked well enough to merit the place at the continental event. I can also tell you that we are not going to make up numbers, we have what it takes to make a statement and even win medals,” Akpata told The PUNCH.

At the first edition in 1965 in Congo Brazzaville, Nigeria finished second with a total of 19 medals behind the then United Arab Republic. At the last edition in Morocco, the country also finished second behind Egypt with 127 medals altogether (46 gold, 33 silver and 48 bronze).

 

Source Punch Ng

Posted March 8, 2024


 

You may also like...
Ankle Injury: Everton Midfielder Andre Gomes May Be...

NPFL Match Schedule: NANPF calls for players’ protection...

Omeruo counts on Moses, Mikel against Cameroon

FC Taraba players occupy Government House, insist on...

CBN pledges continued support for tennis in Nigeria,...

Fumbling Defending Champions Real Madrid Knocked Out of...

 

Latest News Nigeria beat Cameroon to reach IHF final 27 schools for Doregos Basketball Championship Super Falcons to play France’s Les Bleues in friendly SWAN suspends ban on coverage of Anambra FA activities Joshua among boxing’s top three earners in 2024 Oshoala makes history with Bay FC Nnamani hails team over IHF bright start Flamingos lift U-17 W’Cup Fair Play Trophy Rangers Intl, SWAN partner on sports collaboration in SE LAGOS SWAN CELEBRATES AIG ZONE 2 ON HIS BIRTHDAY AND 30 DAYS IN OFFICE Traders Cup: Upholstery Soccer Team Secured 2nd Win To Advance To Round Two Lagos SWAN Celebrates Oba Akiolu, Iyaloja General, AIG Fayoade

 

Most Read Rangers International going, going . . . (55,141 views) Amaju Pinnick: A cat with nine lives (46,269 views) Second Term: Amaju Pinnick, Other NFF Heavyweights Home to Roost •How Pinnick Broke the Jinx (44,350 views) Missing $150,000 IAAF Grant: Solomon Dalung’s Hide and Seek game (43,991 views) Sports Development: Zenith Bank on the zenith (43,931 views) Current issues in Nigerian sports: Matters arising (43,879 views) Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje’s solid footprints, commitment to sports development in Kano State (43,718 views) NFF Presidency: Pinnick, Maigari, Ogunjobi, Okoye in Battle for Supremacy (43,289 views) Olopade, BET9A wave of revolution in NNL (42,333 views) Commonwealth Games 2018: Shame of Muhammadu Buhari, Solomon Dalung (41,035 views) Ibrahimovic’s Man U exit: Whose decision is it? And in whose interest? (39,489 views) John Mikel Obi: Segun Odegbami’s Outrageous Call! (38,916 views)

 

Phone numbers

Tel: +234(0)8066020976
+234(0)8055068145
+234(0)7013416146
+234(0)8094272884

Email addresses

info@dailysportsng.com
support@dailysportsng.com
publisher@dailysportsng.com

Office address

No 3, Adetoun Close, Off College Road, Ogba, Ikeja Lagos.
Website: www.dailysportsng.com

Social Media