Tag: African Games

As widely expected, Nigeria and Egypt will  clash in the finals of  the table tennis’ team event at the 13^th  African Games taking place in Accra, Ghana.

The two seeds in the team event lived to expectations from the group matches to the knockout rounds, pummelling most of their opponents on their way to the finals.

In the men’s event, Quadri Aruna guided Nigeria  to the final after spearheading a hard-fought 3-1 win over Tunisia in the semifinal round to set up another epic final against Egypt.

Incidentally, defending champions, Egypt,  were not threatened until the semifinal round where they were tested by the Mehdi Boloussa-inspired Algerian side but it was the Pharaohs that prevailed to qualify for today’s  final scheduled for the Accra International Conference Centre.

In  the women’s event, Nigeria had a smooth ride to the final with a convincing 3-0 win over South Africa in the semifinal while the Egyptian ladies like their male counterparts, had a jolly passage to the final where they will face Offiong Edem-led Nigerian side.

Read Also: African Games: Igali confident of  wrestlers’  solid performance in Accra  

In their last meeting at Rabat 2019, Egypt prevailed in the men’s event to dethrone Nigeria while the Egyptians have dominated the women’s event in the last three editions of the championships.

Meanwhile, South Africa became the history makers in the women’s event as the Danisha Patel-inspired side claimed their first ever medal at the African Games after settling for a bronze medal with an all-important quarterfinal win over host – Ghana.

The quarterfinal win over Ghana was what Patel needed to become the first South African player to lead the female team to win a medal at the African Games.

 “We are so excited with the medal because it has been years of investment on us that we were able to attend World Championships and other major events in the last few years. We believe this medal will inspire young players in South Africa to embrace the sport and continue to work harder. We are grateful to the South Africa Table Tennis Board (SATTB) for their unflinching support and we believe this will bring more development to the sport,” the 31-year-old said.

Ghana will open its campaign against Congo at the Accra Sports Stadium this  afternoon in their Group A opener.

Speaking at a pre-game press conference yesterday, Kuffour Asamoah was emphatic about the Black Satellites chances of winning the tournament.

 “Many people outside are waiting for this opportunity and we’ve been selected, we are much grateful for this opportunity,” the Berekum Chelsea player said. “We are going to deliver and bring out the best in us. We are going for the trophy. We are going for the trophy.”

Read Also:African Games:  Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria  advance to  quarterfinals

At the last African Games in 2019, Ghana did not progress from the group stage after finishing third in Group B behind Mali and Senegal.

Meanwhile, Black Satellites head coach Desmond Ofei has hinted he is under no pressure heading into the 2023 African Games.

Ofei was given the Ghana U-20 national team job in the latter part of September 2023 replacing Samuel Boadu.

The 13^th   African Games will be the first assignment for the 35-year-old since his appointment to lead the Satellites.

Ahead of the today’s opener against Congo, Ofei said his team is well-prepared for the competition.

“No, there is no pressure,” he said when quizzed about the burden carrying the team into this tournament.  “We are fully prepared. We have a good squad. Our boys are ready and hungry. We don’t feel any pressure; not at all.”

 Egypt and Nigeria as well as Algeria, Tunisia and Madagascar have booked their places in the quarterfinals of the table tennis men’s team event at the 13th  African Games taking place in Accra, Ghana.

Egypt emerged leader in group 1 after beating Ethiopia and Gabon 3-0 each to maintain their 100 percent record while Nigeria, drawn in group 2 alongside Congo DR and Mauritania had a 3-0 win over the two teams to top the group.

Algeria also beat Angola and Guinea with 3-0 margin to progress to the last eight, while Tunisia defeated Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya to progress.

Madagascar edged Ghana and Sudan to join the league of the elite teams in the quarterfinal.

But the battle for the remaining three slots in the quarterfinal will be jostled for by the second place teams in each group to determine the quarterfinal pairing.

In the women’s team event, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria and Tunisia have booked their spots in the semifinal round of the event after topping their groups while they await the second place teams in the four groups to determine the semifinal pairing.

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Meanwhile, the President of African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy has commended all the participating teams for the standard of play while hailing the host – Ghana for putting up a good atmosphere for the event.

 “I am so excited that we have over 19 countries in the event and we are particularly happy with what Ghana has put in place to ensure the success of the event. We are lucky to be the first sport to start competing at the 13th African Games and this has shown again that table tennis is fast returning to Ghana just like it was in the 1970s. we look forward to more exciting matches just like what we had in the finals of the singles event which is a good advertisement for table tennis to the world,” he said.

The Wrestling Federation contingent for the  13th  Africa Games in Accra  would expectedly depart the country from Abuja today to the former Gold Coast. 

The 20-man delegation led by the President Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Dr. Daniel Igali left their camp in Yenagoa for Port-Harcourt airport en-route to Abuja from where they  are expected  to  leaving the country for Ghana.

Speaking on the hopes of the Wrestling Federation ahead of the Games, Dr. Igali said the athletes are expected to put up a good performance. 

“This is African Games and as you know our athletes have been in training camp here in Yenagoa and I think the expectation we have from the athletes is for everyone to give their best efforts,” he said.”We believe with the work we’ve done in the past few weeks with 100% performance would bring good fruits to Nigeria.”

The captain of the Nigeria Wrestling team, Olympic silver medalist Blessing Oborodudu stated of her desire to make Nigeria proud with her performance. 

Read Also: Nigeria to field 358 athletes in 25 sports at 2023 African Games

“Going for the African Games my expectation is to perform my 100% best and by the special grace of God I will defend my title which is the gold medal.”

An African Games debutant,  Ashton Mutuwa 125kg expressed confidence of giving a good account of himself despite making his first appearance at the African Games.

“I’m going there with high expectation and I’m going to Wrestling hard, we’ve been training hard and I’m looking forward to the African Games; yea I would really like to get gold.”

The 13th  African Games begin March 8th  and wrestling event is scheduled to hold between March  9th  and 11th.

 FULL LIST OF TEAM NIGERIA WRESTLERS

WOMEN WRESTLING: 

1. Genesis Miesinnei Mercy (50kg)

2. Ogunsanya Christinah Tolulope (53kg)

3.  Adekuoroye Odunayo Folasade (57kg)

4. Kolawole Esther Omolayo (62kg)

5. Oborududu Blessing (68kg)

6. Rueben Hannah Amuchechi (76kg)

MEN FREESTYLE:

7. Enozunomi Simon (57kg)

8. Izolo Stephen Simon (65kg)

9. Braverman Oyeinkeperemo (74kg)

10. Onovwiomogbohwo Harrison (86kg)

11. Mutuwa Ashton Adeyemi-Amin (125kg)

GRECO-ROMAN:

12.Nworie Emmanuel Chinonso (77kg)

13.Ulabo Solomon (87kg)

14. Okuro Augustine (130kg)

OFFICIALS:

1. Akuh Purity 

2. Burutu Happiness 

3. Victor Kodei 

4. Godswill Teibril

Head Coach Isah Ladan Bosso has picked goalkeeper Nathaniel Nwosu, captain Daniel Bameyi, midfielder Daniel Daga and forwards Charles Agada and Olalekan Ibrahim in his list of 20 players of the Flying Eagles for the men’s football event of the 13th  African Games taking place in Ghana.

Bosso has also picked defenders Musa Abdullahi and Godwin Sampson, midfielders Favour Izuogu and Ibrahim Idris, and forwards Nasir Muhammed and Sunday Joseph.

Nigeria will contend with Uganda, South Sudan, Senegal and Tunisia in Group B of the men’s football event starting on Thursday, with the Nigeria squad scheduled to depart from Abuja today(March 5). Matches will take place at the University of Ghana Sports Stadium in Legon.

Ghana, Congo, Benin Republic and The Gambia are the teams in Group A, with the Accra Sports Stadium as venue.

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Nigeria emerged runners-up of the men’s football event of the 12th African Games held in Rabat, Morocco in October 2019, losing to Burkina Faso in the final.

20 FLYING EAGLES FOR AFRICAN GAMES:

Goalkeepers: Nathaniel Nwosu, Clinton Ezekiel, Samuel James

Defenders: Daniel Bameyi, Ibrahim Abdullahi, Oladapo Akintola, Godwin Sampson, Haruna Aliyu, Rabiu Abdullahi

Midfielders: Daniel Daga, Favour Izuogu, Auwal Ibrahim, Yinka Oladunjoye, Sulaiman Idris

Forwards: Kehinde Ibrahim, Charles Agada, Nasir Muhammed, Sunday Joseph, Olalekan Ibrahim, Sadiq Isiyaka 

• Athletics take the larger share with 50

Team Nigeria will be represented with  no fewer than 358 athletes  at the 13th  African Games which  officially opens  in Accra, Ghana on  March 8th .

The Games are to run from March 8th to 23rd in multiple cities of Accra,  Kumasi and Cape Coast.

Nigeria is competing in 25 sports disciples at the event with athletics presenting the most athletes with 50 sportsmen and women.

Notable athletes  that will hoist Nigeria’s flag in athletics are Ese Brume, Tobi Amusan, Favour Ofili, Oyesade Olatoye, Ruth Usoro, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Consider Ekanem.

In Badminton, the task of winning medals have been entrusted in the hands of 12 badminton players including Anuoluwapo Opeyori, Godwin Olofua, Dorcas Adesokan among others.

11 boxers will carry Nigeria’s hope and aspirations for medals in the Boxing event. Olaitan Olaore, Ifeanyi Onyekwere, Cynthia Ogunsemilore and Ifeoma Umunnakwe are among the boxers.

There are 14 handballers who will be gunning for medals for Nigeria while Quadri Aruna is the top star among the 10 Table Tennis players. Others expected to shine in Ghana are Olajide Omotayo, Taiwo Mati, Matthew Kuti, Edem Offiong, Hope Udoaka, Esther Oribamise and others.

The Under 20 team led by Ladan Bosso will represent Nigeria in the make football event. He has picked Nathaniel Nwosu, Daniel Daga, Izuogu Chibueze, Charles Agada, while Faith Omilana, who kept for the Flamingos at the last Under 17 Women’s World Cup; Jumoke Alani, Shola Shobowale; Blessing Okpe; Chiamaka Okwuchukwu; Chioma Olise, Motunrayo Ezekiel among others are the Falconets for the women’s football event.

In the Taekwondo event, Elizabeth Anyanacho headlines the list of 14 Taekwondo  athletes who will be representing Nigeria in Accra, Ghana. Anyanacho recently bagged an Olympic Games ticket in the sport and she’s expected to use the African Games to test her readiness for the Olympics.

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Wilson Igbinovia, Uchenna Oparaoji, David Ekpeyong, Marylove Edward, Oyinlomo Quadre, and four others are in the list of the Tennis players for Team Nigeria while Rafiatu Lawal, Adijat Olarinoye, Joy Ogbonne Eze, Edidiong Umuafia, Ruth Ayodele, Mary Osijo and six others will vie for honours in the Weightlifting event.

In Wrestling, Mercy Genesis, Odunayo Adekuoroye, Esther Kolawole, Blessing Oborududu and 10 others have been listed to help increase Team Nigeria’s medals haul.

The athletes were accredited at the Delegation Registration Meeting conducted on March 4, 2024.

FULL LIST  OF TEAM NIGERIA

1.Arm Wrestling  – 15 athletes

2.Athletics – 50

3.Badminton – 12

4.Basketball 3 x 3 – 4 female

5.Beach Volleyball  – 4

6.Boxing – 11

7.Chess – 4

8.Cricket – 15

9.Cycling – 12

10.Hockey – 32

11.Football – 40

12.Handball – 14

13.Judo – 10

14.Karate – 14

15.Mixed Martial Arts – 4

16.Rugby – 16

17.Scrabble – 8

18.Swimming – 4

19.Table Tennis – 10

20.Taekwondo – 14

21.Tennis – 8

22.Triathlon – 4

23.Volleyball – 24

24.Weightlifting – 12

25.Wrestling – 14

Table tennis will kick-start the 13th  African Games taking place in Accra, Ghana from March 8 to 23 as 29 countries will jostle for honours in seven events as hostilities  start  today.

Accra International Conference Centre will host the table tennis event for seven days with the men’s singles kicking off the tournament with 84 men and 62 women battling for the coveted prize in the event.

According to the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), the 18 men’s teams will be drawn into six groups of three each while the 12 women’s teams will be drawn into four groups with the top teams in each group advancing to the knockout stage of the event.

Read Also: Four Sambo athletes to represent Nigeria at African Games

In the last two editions of the games, Egypt had dominated all the events claiming the majority of the gold medals ahead of former continent’s heavyweight – Nigeria.

In the men’s singles, all eyes will be on men’s defending champion Olajide Omotayo  who has not replicated the form he displayed at Rabat 2019 in any continental event  with his best outing in any tournament was finishing third  at the 2023 African Championships.

Women’s singles defending champion Dina Meshref will also be aiming to retain her title, but she needs to fend off her compatriot – Hana Goda who has dominated the continent in the last four championships claiming the African Cup and championships.

President of ATTF, Khaled El-Salhy, said  the turnout of teams for the games has been impressive being the largest number in any African Games.

 “We are excited with the presence of teams across the continent, and we hope this will again showcase talents and skills by some upcoming players including youngster Matthew Kuti, who has been included in the Nigerian squad for the games.

The Sambo Association of Nigeria has named a four-man team for the 13th  African Games in Ghana from March 8 to 23. The contingent is made up of two men and two women, namely Jonah Kajido (79kg), James Chegwam (58kg), Fatima Ogbonyomi (65kg) and Charity Jatau (59kg).

Ahead of what will be the first appearance of the event at the Games, vice president of SAN, Sheriff Hammed, is excited about the prospect of Nigeria participating in the event.   

“We carefully selected these athletes to represent us at the African Games based on their knowledge of the sport and Sambo being one of the demonstration sports in Ghana, we want to ensure that we are well represented in the event. 

“This is the first time that Sambo will be part of the African Games as the sport is gaining ground across the globe and Nigeria should not be an exception. For now, the athletes are camping in readiness for the games as we are not just going there to add to the number but to make our presence felt in the event,” he said.

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Hammed, who is also the joint Secretary, International Association of Combative Sports (Africa), said participating in the Games would give more people the opportunity to appreciate the uniqueness of the sport, being one of the fast-growing sports in the world. 

“We are hoping that taking part in the Games would give us the chance to popularise the sport among Africans and Nigerians. More African countries are now embracing the sport and hopefully, it will be part of the Olympics sports very soon with the way it is growing across the globe,” he added.

Among the countries that will compete in Sambo event, aside Nigeria, are Algeria, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo DR, Egypt, Guinea, Mali, Morocco,  Niger Republic, Togo and hosts Ghana.