C’wealth Games: Olopade targets swimming, judo breakthrough News

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C’wealth Games: Olopade targets swimming, judo breakthrough

By Daily Sports Nigeria on July 10, 2026

Director General of the National Sports Commission, Bukola Olopade, believes Nigeria’s para athletes, swimmers and judokas could spring pleasant surprises at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Scotland, while expressing confidence that the country’s traditional medal-winning sports will deliver, The PUNCH reports.

Nigeria will compete in 10 sports with a 74-member athlete contingent at the Games, scheduled to hold from July 23 to August 2 in Glasgow.

While athletics, weightlifting, para sports and boxing are widely expected to account for the bulk of the country’s medals, Olopade said he was particularly eager to see what athletes in some of the less fancied sports could achieve.

“The para lifters will definitely come up with gold medals, the same with para athletics. We are hopeful of winning seven to nine gold medals in athletics with Tobi Amusan, Kayinsola Ajayi, Temitope and Chukwuebuka all being primed for gold medals,” Olopade said.

“We are also very optimistic about the weightlifters and I have been told that the boxers are looking good as well. A lot of people are looking at Patricia Mbata and believing she can win a gold medal.”

Beyond the established medal contenders, the NSC boss believes Team Nigeria could also exceed expectations in sports that have not traditionally delivered podium finishes.

“I believe in every athlete. For me, I want to see what our swimmers and judokas are capable of at this level. That obviously will show tremendous improvement in those sports.”

Nigeria will head to the Games hoping to surpass its performance at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where it finished as Africa’s highest-ranked nation with 35 medals comprising 12 gold, nine silver and 14 bronze.

The athletes are currently in a three-week training camp at the Aberdeen Sports Village in Scotland, where they are putting the finishing touches to their preparations before moving to Glasgow for the Games.

Olopade recently said the commission had prioritised athletes’ welfare as part of its preparations, insisting that competitors would be given the best possible environment to succeed.

“At the heart of our strategy is the welfare of our athletes. We said the days of making our athletes feel inferior are gone. The days of making them feel hungry are gone, so they must be treated very well,” he said.

“The plan has taken us over one and a half years, and we must put them first. As we speak, their allowances are being processed for direct payments into their accounts.”

He added that the athlete-centred approach extends beyond the Commonwealth Games and has become a key policy of the commission.

“It is not just for the Commonwealth Games; it is something we have been doing with individual sports, and we have been telling the federations that they must continue to do so.”

Source Punch Ng

Posted July 10, 2026