Flying Eagles duo of Nathaniel Nwosu and Daniel Bameyi have predicted a tough encounter with Senegal in the third group game of the ongoing African Games slated for Friday in Ghana.
Nigeria has won one and lost one also after two games and Nwosu, a goalkeeper asserted that he and his teammates are still eyeing the gold medal and are determined to crush anything that stand by their ways.
“We are going all out for the gold medal. We keep going all out in our games and give the very best,” Nwosu stated.
Daniel Bameyi on his part expressed his thanks to Nigerians for their support and prayers that culminated in their 1-0 victory over South Sudan.
He said the support boosted their morale and that they would be needing such support when they face Senegal tomorrow in the third game.
“I want to thank Nigerians for their support and prayers. It boosted our confidence and we were able to win. We lost the first game and it was a hard one for us but we regrouped to win the second game,” Bameyi noted.
“The game with Senegal will be tough but we hope to be victorious.”
Yet Flying Eagles head coach, Ladan Bosso said their lack of sufficient preparation for the African Games meant they have been using the competition’s games to perfect their act together.
Bosso whose wards lost 2-1 to Uganda before beating South Sudan 1-0 said he is confident his players will improve better than their previous two games when they are up against Senegal on Friday.
“We will work hard to improve in our next games. We will get to understand ourselves by the time we play more games together,” Bosso said.
Following their remarkable successes at the ongoing African Games in Accra, Ghana, Nigerian Wrestlers are at the ready to repeat the feat at the forthcoming Paris 2024 Olympic qualifiers holding next week in Egypt.
Olympic silver medalist Blessing Oborodudu and world medalist Odunayo Adekuoroye on Sunday led a team of young Wrestlers to perpetual victory at the ongoing 13th African Games.
Also, Commonwealth and multiple time African champion Mercy Genesis and military world champion Hannah Reuben followed the trajectory of the duo above by clinching gold.
Young sensations Christiana Ogunsanya and Esther Kolawole who were making their debut at the games all won gold medals for the first time a victory that’ll propel them for the future.
And on Monday, their male counterparts added three silver and two bronze medals to the tally for Nigeria’s wrestling team at the Games.
Ashton Mutuwa who represented Nigeria for the first time after pledging allegiance to the country over the United State missed out on gold medal to Youssif Hemida of Egypt.
But the silver is as precious as the gold having in mind this was his first outing for Nigeria and he will hope to better that performance at the Olympic qualifiers in the next couple of days.
Also on the silver medal is Simeon Enozumini after a hard fought defeat to another Egyptian Gamal Mohammed in the final clinched silver while Stephen Izolo won the last silver medal for Nigeria following a 10-0 loss to another Egyptian Mourad Omar.
Harrison Onovwiomogbohwo settled for bronze after a walkover against Algerian opponent who was unable to wrestle due to injury while a day earlier Nworie Emmanuel won Bronze to record Nigeria’s first medal in Wrestling in the Greco Roman style.
With this progression, it would be ideal to deliberately support these athletes as a way of motivation to keep representing and making the most popular black nation (giant of Africa) proud.
Nigeria Weightlifters continued their dominance in the weightlifting event at the ongoing 2023 African Games in Ghana yesterday as two lifters: Ruth Ayodele and Joy Eze won six more gold medals in Accra to increase Team Nigeria’s gold medals haul to 15 in the sport alone.
Competing in Day 4 of the Weightlifting event, Ruth Ayodele and Joy Eze won three gold medals each in their 64 kg and 71 kg classes respectively.
Ruth Ayodele is making her debut at the African Games, and she already has a memory to last her a lifetime. Joy Eze on her part, is competing in her second African Games; she moved up a new weight category and has also become a champion in it.
Ayodele, competing in 64 kg won gold in snatch, as well as clean and jerk and total. She lifted 94 kg in snatch, 144 kg in clean and jerk and a total of 208 kg to claim all the three gold at stake.
Joy Eze was also exceptional in her 71 kg category as she won all the three gold medals on display. She snatched 90 kg, had 117kg in clean and jerk and a total of 207 kg.
The six gold medals have made it a total of 15 gold medals won by the weightlifters in Accra.
Recall that the trio of Adijat Olarinoye, (55 kg) Rafiatu Lawal (59 kg) and Edidiong Umoafia (67 kg) all won nine gold medals in their respective classes on Monday.
So far, Nigeria has won a total of 20 medals in Weightlifting event comprising 15 gold, two silver and three bronze.
Team Nigeria Weightlifters won a total of 50 medals at the 2019 Africa games with 16 gold, 16 silver and 18 bronze medals. Optimism is high that the current athletes could surpass this record in Accra, Ghana’s capital.
The Weightlifting event at the Africa Games holding at the University of Ghana, will end on March 15th.
Nigeria’s senior national men handball team otherwise called the Golden Arrows, have arrived Accra, Ghana ahead of the start of the handball event of the 13th African Games.
The Golden Arrows had been undergoing an intensive training programme at the National Institute of Sports, Lagos under Coach Solomon Yola in a bid to keep the great form they had at the Africa Men’s Handball Nations Cup in Egypt.
A final list of 14 players to represent the country have also been released with some players that participated at the Nations Cup and a few players who featured for Nigeria’s Under-20 team that came third at the just concluded IHF Trophy Africa Zone 3 which was also staged in Ghana.
Some of the players include Farouk Yusuf of Granollers of Spain, Stephen Sesugh of Aspac handball club of Benin Republic as well as Gbenga Cole who plies hos trade in Morocco.
Nigeria will be playing in Group A alongside Africa champion Egypt, Mali and Togo while Group B has DR Congo Kenya, Benin Republic and host Ghana.
The Golden Arrows will begin their campaign against Togo today at 5pm Nigeria time and all matches will be played at Borteyman Sports Complex, same venue that hosted the IHF Trophy Africa Zone 3 Phase few weeks ago.
The Golden Arrows have finished with third position on the podium of the African Games thrice; in Cairo ’91 Harare ’95 and in Abuja 2003 while they finished in fourth position in Brazzaville 2015.
GOLDEN ARROWS PLAYERS FOR AFRICAN GAMES
Goalkeeper
1. Solomon Agbaji (ASPAC , Benin Republic)
2.Obina Okwor (Confluence Stars)
3. Adamolugbe Olajundoye( First Party, Doha, Qatar)
It was an atmosphere of joy and excitement for Nigeria after sweeping all six gold medals at the women’s wrestling event yesterday.
Olympic silver medallist Blessing Oborodudu led by example as captain of Nigerian Wrestlers to defeat Blandine Nyeh Ngiri of Cameroon 14-4
Multiple world medalist Odunayo Adekuoroye followed Blessing’s footsteps by beating Zineb Hassoune of Morocco with pin-fall.
Similarly, Commonwealth champion and multiple African champion Mercy Genesis did not disappoint as she dispatched her Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Nada of Egypt 7-0.
African Games debutant Ogunsanya Christiana produced à dominant display in the 53kg to outclass her opponent Nogona Bakayoko of Cote D’Ivoire 11-0.
Hannah Reuben added more celebration to the already agog atmosphere after she defeated Amy Youin of Cote d’Ivorie.
Reacting to the victory, the President Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Dr. Daniel Igali stated that the victory is as a result of hard work and dedication.
An elated Igali gave kudos to the female wrestlers for complimenting their efforts in training with the incredible show at the female event.
“I thank the Lord for the victory today because we’ve been training but in all of this I’m so excited for these girls the deserve it.” Igali said. “Also I like to thank the Governor of Bayelsa State Douye Diri for always supporting these athletes, his support enabled us to shine like we did today.”
Wrestling event continues today on Monday as men freestyle wrestlers take to the mat.
Athletes representing Team Nigeria at the ongoing 13th African Games in Ghana will get $3000 should they win gold in any of the events.
Though the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh , announced during a meeting with the athletes at the Game Village at the weekend that the bonuses will be ‘graduated’ but he didn’t mention the actual figures.
However our correspondent scooped from those who should know that apart from the gold medallists receiving $3,000, the silver and bronze medallist will be rewarded with $2,000 and $1,000 respectively.
The financial rewards for winning medal does not include other camp allowances which athletes are entitled to.
The development seem to have ignited passion for victory among the athletes as reflected in the performances of Team Nigeria in Badminton and Wrestling at the close events last night.
Incidentally, it was gathered from multiple sources that Senator Enoh’s meeting with the Nigerian contingent at the Games was made the move to forestall a potentially embarrassing situation for as Team Nigeria athletes were already getting agitated following delay in payment of their camp allowances.
Some athletes who spoke under condition of anonymity revealed that they have not received a dime for the period of their camping in Nigeria preparatory to the Games.
The minister who is meeting the athletes for the second time in five days noted that before he came on board trust issues existed in the country’s sports administration.
He reiterated his commitment to ensuring that the athletes get their due allowances.
The Minister Further explained that the present protocol does not allow for cash disbursement which has caused some delays. He assured that although this new protocol has caused some delay, all the allowances due the athletes will eventually be paid and nobody would be shortchanged .
He called on the athletes to stay focused for the duration of the tournament and emerge the best in Africa.
Engineer Habu Gumel, President of Nigeria Olympic Committee, in his good will message, stated that athletes are in Ghana to make Nigeria proud. He reminded the athletes that the country came second in the last edition of the games and charged them to maintain and even surpass the record.
He advised the athletes to stay away from drugs even as they compete for honours.
Chairman of the Athletes Commission ,Olumide Oyedeji in his goodwill message, assured the minister that the athletes are ready to make the country proud.
Senator Enoh also stated clearly that bonuses for each winning category has graduated and all incentives will be paid for each medal won by individual athletes and teams.
The meeting was attended by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Tinuke Watti (Chef de mission) , President of the NOC, Chairman of the Athletes Commission , and all members of Team Nigeria present in Ghana .
The Nigerian team competing in the 13th edition of the African Games in Ghana achieved great success yesterday in the Freestyle Women’s Wrestling category, bringing home six gold medals. The winners and their respective categories are: Blessing Genesis (50kg) defeated Emma Nekassa of Kenya, Ogunsanya Christiana (53kg) defeated Mohammad S. of Egypt, Adekuoroye Odunayo (57kg), Kolawole Esther (62kg) defeated Kruger M. of South Africa, Oborodudu Blessing (68kg) defeated Abdullateef S. of Egypt, and Hannah Rubin (76kg) defeated Hamza S. of Egypt.
Nigeria’s Anuoluwapo Opeyori, the African Badminton champion, also brought home one gold medal and one silver medal from his Nigerian opponent as well .
Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh, congratulated the athletes and coaches for their impressive performance, stating that it was a proud moment to see Nigerian women flying the flag high. He encouraged the athletes to stay focused on winning, while assuring them that the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was committed to supporting The Nigerian Sports sector in all ramifications and ensuring that all dues were paid on time.
The Nigerian team is looking forward to more success in the coming days of the competition, with other contingents expected to do well in their respective sports.
Defending African Games women’s football champions the Falconets have got off to a winning start at the 13th edition of the competition courtesy of a 2-0 win over their Moroccan counterparts.
The Nigerian girls, who won Gold in 2019 in Morocco, opened scoring in the 19th minute through an own goal and then doubled their lead just before halftime through A.Yina.
They ought to have won by a far big margin but for poor finishing. Their next Group B match will be against Senegal on Monday night. Cameroon are the other team in this group.
Hosts Ghana are drawn in Group A alongside Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. The top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals.
The African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) have hailed the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for putting up a good atmosphere for table tennis at the 13th African Games taking place in Accra, Ghana.
The continental body described the quality of play coupled with the conducive atmosphere put in place by the host as satisfactory for all the participants ranging from the coaches to the players.
Specifically, ATTF commended Mawuko Afadzinu, a member of the LOC in charge of table tennis for putting up a good show for the participating 29 countries competing in the table tennis event of the championships.
The African Games returned to West Africa for the first time since 2003 when the quadriennial multi-event competition was hosted and won by Nigeria. The rank and file of Team Nigeria are confident of finishing strongly again ahead of the rest of the continent again in Ghana , TUNDE LIADI writes
The African Games is a multi-sport event held every four years and generally one year before the Olympic Games except on few occasions.
It’s positioned as a pan African event, owned by the African Union (AU) to showcase sporting prowess in Africa, enhance cultural exchanges, promote solidarity, social cohesion and peace across the continent.
The games has a long history as the first edition was successfully held in the Republic of Congo in 1965 where 30 countries participated in 10 sports- athletics, basketball, football, tennis, Weightlifting, cycling, swimming, handball, volleyball and wrestling.
The African Games in Ghana is only the 13th edition because the event has not been held every four years. The second edition took place in Nigeria in 1973 (36 countries, 12 sports with the inclusion of boxing and judo), followed by Algiers in 1978 (38 countries). The fourth edition only took place in 1987 in Kenya (41 countries, 14 sports).
Since then the games were held every four years with an increasing number of countries and sports. Other hosts have included Egypt (1991), Zimbabwe 1995), South Africa (1999), Nigeria (2003), Algeria (2007), Mozambique (2011), Congo (2015) and, most recently, Morocco in 2019.
This edition in Ghana will feature 54 countries competing in 30 disciplines. Seven of them are demonstration sports that showcase emerging trends, such as esports (electronic sports) and mixed martial arts.
Nigeria has participated in all editions of the African Games and the country has only topped the medals table only once in 2003 when the Games returned to Lagos, Nigeria again 30 years after hosting the same competition. With 85 gold, 90 silver and 65 bronze medals, Team Nigeria broke away from the shackles of Egypt (80 gold, 62 silver and 72 bronze medals) and South Africa (36 gold, 59 silver and 49 bronze medals who finished second and third for the first time in recent editions before then.
After 2003, Team Nigeria’s best at the African Games has been second in 2015 (47 gold, 55 silver and 42 bronze medals) and 2019 also with 46 gold, 33 silver and 48 bronze medals behind Egypt who has dominated the four year competition.
Team Nigeria will be up against Egypt and South Africa again in the edition that formally starts today in Ghana and the country’s sportsmen and women, coaches and administrators have been talking tough.
Incidentally, Nigeria has already captured silver (Aruna Quadri) and bronze (Offiong Edem) medals in the singles event of the table tennis event and both table tennis stars have vowed to put up their best in the remaining categories of the event.
Edem who also won a bronze medal in the last edition of the Games held in Morocco in 2019 could not contain her excitement at being on the podium again and she thanked the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation for the superb preparations she had including featuring at the World Table Tennis Championship in Korea which toughened her before the start of the African Games.
She opined that she and her other teammates would give their best in the remaining categories to deliver more medals for Team Nigeria.
“I feel super excited and I am so proud to be the first person to win a medal at the ongoing African Games for Nigeria. It has been tough but I put in my best,” Edem disclosed. “I had the opportunity to play well because we were in the World Championship held in Korea. This helped a lot. I want to thank the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation for making that possible. It was like a training tour for me and it was the reason for my impressive outing.
Nigeria Table Tennis sensation, Aruna Quadri also relished his third silver medal at the singles event of the African Games.
He said even though he would have loved to win the gold medal after losing in third successive finals in 2015 to Omar Assar (Egypt), and 2019 to his compatriot, Olajide Omotayo , he was delighted to be at the African Games again.
“It is always a very difficult game. The level has improved in Africa. It had been very tough from the round of 32,” Aruna stressed. “I didn’t win gold. I had lost in two finals and this is the third one. We will keep fighting and pushing. It is not about winning all the time. It is the spirit of sportsmanship. I hope to continue giving my best in the remaining categories.”
In the football event, Christopher Danjuma-led Falconets start their title defence against Morocco in a Group B tie today and the gaffer is positive that his girls are ready to give their best and retain the African Games crown in Ghana.
Danjuma said the competition would also serve as an opportunity to evaluate their preparation for the FIFA Under 20 Women’s World Cup which holds later in the year.
“We will take the games one after the other. We will try to come out of the group stage because immediately you are through to the next round, it is the semi-final and Nigeria is the defending champions,” Danjuma stated. “We know that Cameroon has withdrawn from our group and we left with Morocco and Senegal to contend with. We will play Morocco first on the 8th March and Senegal three days later.
“These are matches we need to win and our energies are geared towards that. We know what we are going for. It is just like the prelude to the upcoming World Cup. We shall use it to prepare for it and keep the players in shape before then,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Technical Director Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Samuel Onikeku has assured that Nigeria athletes are ready to take on the rest of Africa at the African Games.
Nigeria is going to the African Games with 50 athletes and Onikeku said Nigerians have no reasons to worry about anything as the AFN has picked athletes who are eager to win laurels for their fatherland in Ghana.
“We are going to put up good results in Ghana. In the Shot Put last year an Egyptian Mostafa Amr Ahmed Hassan was at the top of his game and was giving Chukwuebuka Enekwechi a proper challenge.
“He threw better than Ebuka at the World Championship in Budapest, Hungary but the Egyptian was at the recently held World Athletics Indoors Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, Ebuka was sixth while the Egyptian finished in 10th spot. He was not even able to throw 21 metres.
“We are confident that our athletes will record over 90 percent success. We are happy with the preparation of our athletes. It is just unfortunate that the 4x400m relay didn’t go as planned because of visas. We could not get them visas and the World Athletics tried to intervene for us but it was too late.
“It would have helped us to know where we are. But we are still confident that our 4x400m relay teams and mixed relay teams would do well because they have been competing. But competing at World Indoors would have assessed our preparedness. After the World Indoors we still had two weeks to tweak what we have done with the athletes.”
Nigeria’s Wrestlers too are not left out of the crave for top finish at the African Games following the revelation from top Wrestling coach, Purity Akuh who said the wrestlers are ready for the competition.
Akuh revealed that with the kind of preparations the wrestlers have had and the competitions they have attended before the sports ministry’s closed camping, they are confident they would write Nigeria’s name in gold in Ghana.
“We have prepared enough. We know we are the African Champions and we started preparing since last year. Early this year we have gone to about two competitions. The Croatia ranking series and the France Grand Prix. The two competitions helped the wrestlers. They served as pre-competition for the African Games,” Akuh disclosed.
“Our girls are doing well. The Nigeria Wrestling Federation has really helped our preparations. Before the closed camping, we have been in camp. The President of the NWF, Daniel Igali has made the provisions for us to be in camp. We have worked on so many things we may encounter in Ghana. We are confident enough that as we are going to Ghana, we will be there to defend our titles.”
The Wrestling event starts from March 9th to 11th with Nigeria going with the hope of topping the medals’ table in wrestling again just like it was in 2019.
In Boxing, Azania Omo Agege Vice President, Nigeria Boxing Federation, has also declared that the boxers representing Nigeria are in high spirits and are turbo charged to topple their other African counterparts in the 11 weight categories.
He said the African Games would provide the platform for the boxers to continue with their impressive performances like they have done in previous Games.
He stressed that Nigeria already has some boxers who have already qualified for the Olympic Games and that the plan is to have them finish on the podium in Ghana and consolidate on it at the Olympic Games.
“The boxers are in high spirits. They are training at Ibadan where they are in camp. They are looking forward to going and doing the nation proud and coming back with medals. We have also done very good at the African Games,” Omo Agege said.”We are preparing very well to ensure we repeat the feat this term in Ghana. We are going with four males and seven females. We are going to return with very good results because we are going to Ghana with very good boxers.
“I’m sure you are already aware that we have already qualified three boxers to the Olympic Games.”
The President Nigeria Volleyball Federation Musa Nimrod, is equally confident that the volleyball team to the African Games will win medals at the competition in Ghana.
“We started camping three weeks before the sports ministry took over the camping of the athletes,” Nimrod hinted. “We did our medical check-up and those with issues were dropped and replaced. We are going to return with medals because we have done our homework well.”
The President of the Nigeria Handball Federation, Samuel Ocheho , has also assured they are going to deliver medals in the handball event of the African Games.
“We have done all we could do to have a good team. The North Africans have gone very far in the sport,” Ocheho stated. “We are not that too far ahead. We tried at the Nations Cup and we believe with that we can have a good performance in Ghana.”
The African Games officially open today with Nigeria taking part in 25 sports and the country’s contingent has gone with the firm believe that they can finish better than the second position of the last two editions in Congo and Morocco.
NIGERIA @ THE AFRICAN GAMES
Nigeria has competed at every edition of the African Games. Its athletes have won a total of 1326 medals. Below is a table representing all medals across the Games in which it has competed.
