The Nation Newspaper

Category: Olympic

  • Ukogu rows into Olympics semi final

    Ukogu rows into Olympics semi final

    The representative of Team Nigeria, Chierika Ukogu has secured a place in the semi-finals of the Women’s Single Sculls Rowing event at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympics.

    The success of the 24 year old is giving the country the hope of winning her first medal at the 2016 Olympics.

    Recall that she is the first Nigerian to represent the country in Rowing and she seems determined to clinch the Olympics Gold medal.

    The athlete is rowing with Rouba Amina from Algeria, her quarter-final African colleague, in the semifinals.

    Ukogu is a graduate of Stanford University, a private research university in California, the United States.

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”category” category=”109015″ count=”4″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link”]

  • Nigerian surprised everybody in Olympics – Timo Boll

    Nigerian surprised everybody in Olympics – Timo Boll

    After being sent packing by Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri, Germany’s Timo Boll has admitted that the Nigerian has surprised a lot of people at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

    Amidst every doubt, Quadri pummeled Timo Boll with the Nigerian showing his class in front of the Brazilian fans with an emphatic 4-2 (12-10, 12-10, 11-5, 3-11, 5-11, 11-9) to become the first African and Blackman to make it to the last eight of the Olympic Games.

    A disappointed Boll said: “He has surprised a lot of people. I knew he was good coming into the match. I just have to say, well played! His whole game is different, so it took me a while to work it out. Once I was 0-3 down I started to get more into the match, but it was already too late.”

    For the first time in the fourth Olympic Games appearance, Boll, a bronze medalist at the London 2012 is not sure of making it to Tokyo 2020 in Japan.

    Meanwhile, President of Senegal Table Tennis Federation, Balla Lo has lauded Quadri, saying, “Congratulations to Aruna, ATTF and NTTF. The most important thing I have noted is the huge progress of our sport, reducing the gap (difference of levels) between Africa and very developed continents. This is not the case regarding some major sports like football, basketball, judo and many other sports. Where the gap is still very deep, and best wishes to Aruna.”

  • Quadri hits Olympics quarter-final

    Quadri hits Olympics quarter-final

    Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri continued his superb performance at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympic Games as the 2014 ITTF Star Player fell another big fish in the table tennis world to confirm his place in the quarter-final of the men’s singles of table tennis.

    Amidst every doubt, Quadri again rose to the occasion against the world number 13, Germany’s Timo Boll when the Nigerian showed his class in front of the Brazilian fans with an emphatic 4-2 (12-10, 12-10, 11-5, 3-11, 5-11, 11-9) to become the first African and Blackman making it to the last eight of the Olympic Games.

    Quadri, who is ranked 40 in the world has again animated the venue as Brazilian fans were thrilled by the superlative performance of the Nigerian.

      However, Quadri will face the biggest talks of his career when he battles world number one and world champion, China’s Ma Long in the quarterfinal match on Tuesday August 9.

  • Africa unites over Quadri’s feat at Olympics

    Africa unites over Quadri’s feat at Olympics

    The heroic feat of Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympic Games has united African teams in Brazil as the success of the table tennis star continues to dominate global media.

    Quadri was in superb form when he edged out former world number one and tournament’s number 10 seed, Germany’s Timo Boll 4-2 in the fourth rou8nd match played late on Monday.

    From Egypt, Mauritius, Algeria, Djibouti, South Africa, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria, Quadri’s feat as the first African to qualify for the quarterfinal round of the table tennis event at the Olympic Games has become the talk of the town across the continent.

    From the President of the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy to the Vice President of the South Africa Olympic Committee (SAOC), Hajera Kajee as well as the former President of Djibouti Table Tennis Association and Executive member of ATTF, Farah Hassan Farah, Quadri has now put the continent on the global map with all eyes on Africa now at ITTF.

    Excited ATTF boss said: “I am so happy with Quadri Aruna of Nigeria flies high in the prospect of Rio Olympic Games by qualifying to the quarter-final of the Men’s Single as the first precedent for African Table Tennis players in Olympics. Congratulation to Africa, ATTF, NTTF and all Table Tennis fans in our continent and I am still hungry for much more tomorrow Inshallah.”

    “It is indeed a great moment for Nigeria and our Continent Africa. Viva Africa,” said Kajee.

    Well done!! Kudos to Aruna Quadri and his team, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation and of course the continent should celebrate this outstanding performance,” said Farah.

    For the Vice President of ATTF, Olabanji Oladapo, the feat achieved by the Nigerian is a plus to Africa. I join millions of African all over the world in congratulating Aruna Quadri, Nigeria and President of African Table Tennis Federation. I believe we are gradually moving closer to our goal of breaking into the medal table in any ITTF competition. It will be sooner than later. African will be on the podium. Best of luck to all the African players at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.”

    Even some of the upcoming players in Africa were not left out of the celebration as Africa’s U-21 champion; Shady Magdy praised the achievement of Quadri, whom he said has opened doors for African players at global level.

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”category” category=”109015″ orderby=”popular” count=”4″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link”]

  • Olympics: NSA hails U-23 Eagles, Quadri

    Olympics: NSA hails U-23 Eagles, Quadri

    Unmissable Incentives Limited – organizers of the Nigerian Sports Award have hailed the heroics of the U-23 Eagles as they progressed to the quarter-finals at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Rio 2016 after a 1-0 victory over Sweden in Group B thanks to a header by Sadiq Umar at the Amazonia Arena in Manaus.

    In congratulating the U-23 Eagles Team and Nigeria for the recent achievement in the Rio Olympics, the Executive Director of Unmissable Incentives, Mr. Kayode Idowu, hailed the teams’ remarkable performances in its first two opening games which has now solidified its place in the next round and also further identified the Dream Team as one of the favourites in the competition.

    He noted that this achievement would further brighten the hope which sport loving Nigerians have placed in them and the entire athletic team representing Nigeria, as they all strive for gold in the 2016 Rio Olympic games.

    Furthermore, Idowu also seized the moment to congratulate Nigerian Table Tennis Star Player and two-time winner of the Prestigious Nigerian Sports Award, Aruna Quadri on his recent 4-1 victory against Slovakia’s Yang Wang in the table tennis event held on Sunday.

    Idowu afterward used the medium to restate the commencement of nominations for the 2016 edition of the Nigerian Sports Award. “The Rio Olympics competition has also provided another platform through which Nigerians can evaluate the performances of all the participants and nominate them for the upcoming Nigerian Sports Award. They can visit the official website of the award or go through other social media platforms to nominate their sports personalities in the different categories” he said.

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”category” category=”109015″ orderby=”popular” sort=”ASC” count=”4″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link” header_background=”#f7f7f7″ header_text_color=”#cc5e2e”]

  • Olympics: Countries scramble for Toriola as coach

    Olympics: Countries scramble for Toriola as coach

    The rapturous applause that attended his exit from the Table Tennis event of the Rio Olympics could have been mistaken for a victorious ovation. Nigeria’s legendary table tennis icon Segun Toriola exited the Rio Games but held his head high the way only legends do.

    His conqueror, Japan’s Niwa Koki, who beat Segun in the men’s singles event of table tennis joined in acknowledging the iconic star who raised his hands to return the sporadic applause.

    Not long after his defeat, Toriola who made history by joining the elite stars’ club of players to have attended the 7 Olympics turned out to be the beautiful bride who is sought after by many countries to sign as their coach.

    ‘’Countries are queuing to see who will out-bid each other to land Toriola as coach’’, a very dependable source said here.

    Interestingly, too, Nigeria is also desirous of landing the history maker as their coach.

    President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, Enitan Oshodi said they’ve always been interested and would want to complete the deal, noting however that Toriola was still much fit to continue with his club functions. “He’ll be an asset and has always been to our young athletes. We’ll see how to make it even if it means living abroad and coaching from there as it were.

    “The young man deserves all the accolades he gets. That is the result of discipline and hard work. And honestly,  they are the things lacking in our youth players. They are in a hurry to ride expensive cars without working for it,” Oshodi bemoaned.

    Just as the International Table Tennis Federation plan to honour his historic 7th Olympic appearance, there are feelers that officials of Team Nigeria are also planning to roll out the red carpet to this eminent Nigerian Ping Ponger.

  • Olympics: My confidence is growing – Quadri

    Olympics: My confidence is growing – Quadri

    After his superlative performance in the third round of the men’s singles of the table tennis event at Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Aruna Quadri has admitted that the win against Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan has grown his confidence in playing the next match.

    Quadri, who earlier this year was beating black and blue by the Asian star at the German Open said he is focused on his next encounter against Germany’s Timo Boll.

    “I am growing in confidence because the last time I played Chuang Chih-Yuan was earlier this year on the ITTF World Tour in Germany, I lost in four straight games, my goal today was to improve on that performance and fight to win one game!”

    “After I won the first game I became more confident. It is so hard playing Chuang Chih-Yuan, he is so consistent, he keeps putting the ball on the table, you must try to be positive against him and put him under pressure. Also, he was clever with his services, he changes short and long. In the first game I made mistakes returning service. Today he was below his best, he did not play well,” Quadri added.

    [news_box style=”3″ display=”category” category=”109015″ orderby=”popular” count=”6″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link”]

  • Quadri causes upset to equal Toriola’s Olympics records in Rio

    Quadri causes upset to equal Toriola’s Olympics records in Rio

    Motivated by the inspiration of legend Segun Toriola, Aruna Quadri yesterday defied all odds to demystify one of the tournament’s favourites, Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan with a 4-0 bashing to berth in the fourth round of the men’s singles of the table tennis event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

    For making it to the fourth round (last 16), Quadri has equaled the feat achieved by Toriola at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in China where the former African champion made it to the same stage of the championship.

    The Nigerian who is ranked 40th in the world and 27 at the Rio Olympic Games tamed the world’s number seven and tournament’s number five seed to make a giant stride in his career.

    If what happened at the 2016 German Open is anything to go by, Quadri has no chance against the Asian star as the 2014 ITTF Star Player was bundled out in less than 15minutes.

    Fired up by the loud ovation that greeted Segun Toriola’s exit in the second round of the men’s singles, Quadri was in excellent form with an emphatic routing of his highly-rated opponent.

    The defeat suffered by the Asian star was that disgraceful that he could not win a game in the 4-0 ((11-6, 12-10, 11-6, 11-7) bashing.

    Notably, four year ago at London 2012, Quadri’s victim – Chuang Chih-Yuan had reached the bronze medal match, where he was beaten by Germany’s Dmitrij Ovtcharov.

    Like Quadri, another star of the night was Ukraine’s Kou Lei who attracted the attention by upsetting top seed.

    Kou Lei, the no.28 seed, ended the hopes of Frenchman, Simon Gauzy, the no. 13 seed (11-6, 6-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-6).

    In the fourth round match, Quadri will be faced with another task as he is expected to battle against Germany’s Timo Boll, ranked 13 in the world and tournament’s number 10 seed.

  • Rio Olympics 2016:Williams sisters lose in doubles

    Rio Olympics 2016:Williams sisters lose in doubles

    Serena and Venus Williams on Sunday at Rio 2016 lost for the first time in an Olympics doubles match.

    According to News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN), their hopes of winning a fourth successive title were surprisingly ended in the first round.

    The American top seeds lost 6-3 6-4 to Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova, who were only paired together at late notice.

    Strycova replaced Karolina Pliskova, who withdrew because of Zika concerns.

    This was the Williams’ first defeat in 16 Olympics matches playing together.

    The sisters won gold together at Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and London 2012, but did not compete at Athens 2004 after Serena pulled out through injury.

    “We played terrible and it showed in the results,” said 22-time Grand Slam singles title winner Serena.

    NAN reports that Venus, 36, also lost in the singles on Saturday.

    The U.S. women’s Olympic tennis coach Mary Joe Fernandez had said afterwards that the seven-time major champion had been sick since before she arrived in Brazil.

    Serena, 34, can still become the first woman to win two Olympic singles titles after the London 2012 gold medallist beat Australia’s Daria Gavrilova earlier on Sunday.

    But Venus, who won the individual title at Sydney 2000, saw her hopes of a fifth gold ended by Safarova and Strycova.

    Neither of the unseeded Czech pair had previously won an Olympic doubles match, also losing their only previous outing together in a Fed Cup match last year.

    “It was what it was,’’ Serena said. “We have a chance to compete for our country and did the best that we can. We had a blast out there.

    “I wouldn’t say it was devastating. It was a lot of fun and we will always remember these moments and these matches.

    “At the end of the day, I think that’s what matters most.’’

  • Rio Olympics 2016: Djokovic crashes

    Rio Olympics 2016: Djokovic crashes

     ***Murray lose one win one

    Andy and Jamie Murray are out of the men’s doubles, while top seed Novak Djokovic lost in the singles, in some of the matches played Sunday at the Rio Olympics.

    The Britons, seeded second, lost 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (16-14) to Brazilian pair Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa in front of a partisan home crowd.

    Earlier, defending champion Andy Murray won his opening Olympic singles match by beating Serbia’s Viktor Troicki.

    But Djokovic, Troicki’s team-mate, is out after a shock loss to Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro.

    The world number one lost 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2) to the London 2012 bronze medalist.

    It would be recalled that del Potro had dropped out of the top 100 after being plagued by a serious wrist injury over the past couple of years.

    Djokovic, 29, has won four out of the past five Grand Slams, but also suffered a surprise early exit at Wimbledon last month.

    After warmly congratulating Del Potro at the net, he left the court in tears after failing to improve on the bronze medal he won at Beijing 2008.

    His defeat opens up the draw for second seed Murray, 29, who beat Troicki 6-3 6-2 to progress to the second round.

    After losing his serve in the first game, the Scot went on to control the tempo of the match.

    British women’s number one Johanna Konta also recorded a straight-set wins in her first-round tie on her Olympic debut.

    Konta, who won in the women’s doubles alongside Heather Watson on Saturday, beat Liechtenstein’s Stephanie Vogt 6-3 6-1.

    The 25-year-old 10th seed had to see off two break points in the first set before taking control against the world number 290.

    In the doubles, the Murrays saved six match points, and wasted five set points, in an epic second-set tie-break before Bellucci and Sa eventually completed the win.

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”category” category=”109015″ orderby=”random” count=”5″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link” header_background=”#e8e8e8″ header_text_color=”#db5d43″]