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Tag: Team Nigeria

  • 2016 Paralympics Games: Team Nigeria arrive Rio

    2016 Paralympics Games: Team Nigeria arrive Rio

    The Nigeria’s contingent to the 2016 Paralympic Games has arrived in Rio, Brazil.

    The 35 member contingent departed Abuja on Sept.1

    A statement issued by Nneka Anibeze, Special Assistant, Media, to Solomon Dalung, Minister of Youth and Sports, said that the team promised to win medals for the country.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 23 athletes will represent Nigeria in the games.

    Six of the athletes will feature in Para- Athletes, 14 in Para-Powerlifiting, while three will take part in Para-Table tennis.

    NAN also reports that 12 officials, including coaches, medical personnel, helpers, loaders and team administrators, accompanied the team.

    Anibeze said that the minister had urged the team before its departure, to compete fairly and be of good behaviour at the games.

    “I bring you warm greetings from the father of the nation, President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “Mr President sends his goodwill and encouragement which is reduced to, “Go and make Nigeria proud.’’

    “I congratulate you for qualifying for the games at a time the country is undergoing trials.

    “One thing that amazes me about you is your determination, commitment and patriotism.

    “As you go for the games, compete fairly, honestly and give it your best,’’ Dalung was quoted as saying during the departure ceremony.

    The minister also urged the athletes to comfort themselves and allow officials accompanying them to resolve any crisis that may arise.

    “Whatever problems you may encounter, let us manage it very well, the idea of escalating our problems does not speak well of us as Nigerians.

    “We at the Ministry of Youth and Sports have resolved that any athlete, who goes out to represent Nigeria, will receive his or her bonus directly.

    “All allowances will be paid to you before the games end,’’ Dalung said.

    The Team Nigeria captain, Lucy Ejike, had thanked Dalung and the Permanent Secretary, for making it possible for the country to be at the games.

    “I want to assure you that we will do our best. Whatever those of us, special people do, we put in all our efforts, so we urge you not to panic.

    “We thank you for getting us new wheelchairs and we are highly motivated as we ask you to watch out for us at the games,’’ she said.

    NAN reports that the games, which opens on Sept. 7, will be rounded off on Sept.18.

  • Olympics: Adeniyi leads two others for medals chase in wrestling

    Olympics: Adeniyi leads two others for medals chase in wrestling

    Commonwealth gold medalist, Aminat Adeniyi will lead the duo of Genesis Mercy and Hannah Rueben as Team Nigeria begins their quest for medals in the wrestling event of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

    Adeniyi, a double African champion will compete against the world’s best in the freestyle event of the women’s 58kg. She is expected to battle for medal against 19 other wrestlers across the globe.

    Mercy Genesis, who is making her international debut at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will jostle for laurel in the women’s 48kg against 19 others including former Olympic Games medalist.

    Experienced Hannah Reuben who is making her Olympic Games debut will have her hands full against 17 others in the women’s 69kg of freestyle event.

    Five female and two male wrestlers are expected to compete for Team Nigeria at the Rio Olympic Games with all eyes on Odunayo Adekuoroye, a bronze medalist at the 2015 World Championship and rated as one of favourites to clinch medal in the freestyle event.

    Meanwhile, Cuba’s Mijain Lopez Nunez won his third straight Olympic Games gold medal at the weekend with a 6-0 victory over reigning world champion Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

    With the victory, Lopez becomes the third wrestler in the classic style to win three Olympic Games gold medals after Sweden’s Carl Westergren and Russia’s Alexander Karelin.

    After last year’s 1-0 loss to Kayaalp in the world championships finals, many wrestling fans were expecting a hard-fought struggle, but Lopez sealed his victory in the opening 30 seconds of the gold medal final.

    Lopez snapped Kayaalp down as the champ moved forward at the opening whistle.  With Kayaalp’s balance broken forward, Lopez wrapped up a tight chest-lock from in front and tossed the champ to his back for a sudden 4-0 lead. In the ensuring scramble, Lopez added a step-out point.

    As things got chippy with a frustrated Kayaalp in the second period, Lopez gained another penalty point and appeared to have technical fall within reach with one minute to go, but he chose to ease home with the victory.

    Earlier in the day, Lopez defeated London 2012 silver medalist Estonia’s Heike Nabi, bronze medalist Sweden’s Johan Euren and two-time junior world champion Russia’s Sergey Semenov – all by simple decisions.

  • Olympics: Nigeria missing as taekwondo event begins

    Olympics: Nigeria missing as taekwondo event begins

    For the first time in the last three editions of the Olympic Games, Team Nigeria will be conspicuously missing from the taekwondo event of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as 63 countries begin fight for medals.

    Since taekwondo became a medal hauling event at Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in United States, Nigeria has not missed out from competing at the tournament after the trio of Princess Dudu, Chika Chukwumerije and Martins Obiora featured at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games in Greece.

    Nigeria failed to feature in the qualifiers for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games but in 2004, the team presented three athletes – Dudu, Chukwumerije and Obiora for the games but they were knocked in the first round of the games.

    Chukwumerije and Isa Mohammed Adam qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in China with Adam making it to the quarterfinal while Chukwumerije claimed bronze medal.

    Against, it was Chukwumerije and Adam that qualified for the 2012 London Olympic Games with both athletes being edged in the first round.

    But as one of the Africa’s powerhouses in the sport, Nigeria could not win a slot to the Rio Olympic Games in Brazil at the qualifiers held in Morocco and this automatically prevented the team from the Brazil party.

    And when the taekwondo event begins today at the Carioca Arena 3 in Rio, nine African countries will be battling it out with 54 other nations across the world.

    The men’s taekwondo competition will pit a field of legendary fighters against an up-and-coming contingent of hungry young guns as the sport prepares to rock Rio with a “Festival of Fight.” The 2016 Olympic taekwondo competition takes place over four days, from August 17 to August 20, at the Carioca Arena 3. One men’s and one women’s weight category, each containing 16 fighters, will be contested on each day. The four men’s weight categories are: -58kg, -68kg, -80kg and +80kg.

  • Nigeria will not leave Rio without medals – Minister

    Nigeria will not leave Rio without medals – Minister

    Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung , has again reassured Nigerians that the efforts of the athletes competing at the ongoing Rio Olympic Games will not be in vain as, “we will not leave Rio without winning medals’.

    Tony Ubani, Press Officer, Team Nigeria, quoted the minister as saying shortly after Union Bank Nigeria PLC redeemed its N30million pledge to support the team.

    Although, Nigeria’s name was yet to be on the medal table, Dalung said that he was optimistic that Team Nigeria would still win medals.

    According to him, the minister commended the bank for the support.

    “We’re grateful for your donation and we promise to ensure a transparent management of the fund, for you to do more.”

    Ubani said that Yinka Kadejoh, the Events and Sports Officer of the bank presented ATM cards loaded with N250,000 to each of the athletes .

    He said that they could use the cards anywhere in the world.

    The  News Agency of Nigeria  (NAN) reports that the ceremony took place at the secretariat of Team Nigeria in Rio.

     

  • Team Nigeria Olympics Updates

    Team Nigeria Olympics Updates

     

    Top 10 countries at the Olympics

     

    Countries             Gold           Silver                    Bronze                 Total

    USA                              16                  12                               11                          39

    China                           11                   8                                12                          31

    Russia                         4                     8                                8                            20

    Japan                          7                     2                                13                          22

    Italy                             3                    6                                 4                            13

    Australia                    5                    5                                 6                             16

    Republic of Korea    5                    3                                 4                             12

    Great Britain            6                    6                                 6                             18

    Germany                   5                    3                                 1                              9

    France                        3                    4                                5                             12

     

    Updates as at 19:20Hours.

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  • 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.

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  • Team Nigeria outfit missing at opening ceremony

    Team Nigeria outfit missing at opening ceremony

    THE disastrous showing of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) continued as the Team Nigeria outfits could not make it to the opening ceremony of Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

    For the opening ceremony, Team Nigeria members were to wear an official outfit during their parade but many were surprised to see the athletes in tracksuits when they came out.

    Over the years, Team Nigeria athletes have been known for their flamboyant attires which showcase their vast cultural backgrounds.

    In 2012 London Olympics, Team Nigeria athletes were colourful during the opening ceremony as they wore different types of native attire in Green, White, Green colours of Nigeria.

    For Rio 2016, the athletes were just in tracksuits as the attires made for the opening ceremony could not make it to the Brazil.

    After Team Nigeria parade, Nigerians took to social media to express their disappointments at the NOC.

    The criticism continued when photos of the planned outfits emerged on social media.

    Instead of the different types of native attires that showcase our variety of cultures, the female outfit is an ugly flowing gown while the male on was a black long coat, complimented with a hat and green pants .

    This unfortunate incident comes after the Nigeria’s U-23 football team was stranded at their camp in Atlanta and only took off just few hours before their first game.

    They managed to beat Japan 5-4 in their first group game in the football event of Rio 2016.

  • Mikel ‘happy’ to lead Team Nigeria at Olympics

    Mikel ‘happy’ to lead Team Nigeria at Olympics

    Captain of Team Nigeria to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Mikel Obi, on Wednesday described his appointment  as overwhelming.

    Speaking from the U-23 team’s camp in Atlanta, United States, the Chelsea midfielder said his selection as Team Nigeria captain  was the highest accolade a sportsman can ever get from his country.

    “First and foremost, I will say I am overwhelmed with this opportunity to be the captain of Team Nigeria to the Rio Olympics. This is the highest accolade you can ever have as a sportsman‎ and it’s one I am really looking forward to,” allnigeriasoccer.com quoted the Super Eagles captain as saying on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) website – thenff.com.

    “I am much pleased and very happy with myself for what I have been able to achieve, and grateful to the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports and the entire country for this opportunity.

    “My objective is to carry everyone along. I think it’s important that we all work together. It’s important that we all set one goal, that is to be successful, to win medals, particularly gold medals. Our country has not done very well in recent times at the Olympics, so hopefully we can go to Rio and do well.”

     

  • Tennis: Team Nigeria knows olympics fate next week

    The fate of Team Nigeria to win the continent’s sole slot in the men’s table tennis team event of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be decided next week after the May 2016 ranking is released by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

    After its excellent performance at the World Team Championship in Malaysia, Team Nigeria has edged out Egypt from the slot to be listed as the highest rated men’s team from Africa.

    According to the Olympics qualification system issued by ITTF, One (1) team from each continent (6 teams) will be selected as follows: “For each continent, the highest ranked team in the May 2016 ITTF Olympic Team Ranking list, which has an NOC and a total of two (2) athletes qualified through any of the Olympic qualification methods, will receive one (1) additional athlete quota place from the Team Quota (22 places in total) to form a team of three (3) athletes.”

    It added: “In the event that, within a given continent no NOC has qualified two athletes, then the highest ranked team, based on the May 2016 ITTF Olympic Team Ranking list, with one single athlete qualified through any of the Olympic qualification methods will receive two additional athlete quota places from the Team Quota to form a team of three athletes. If the jurisdiction of an NOC covers more than one (1) ITTF affiliated member, the ranking of the highest ranked affiliated member of that NOC in the May 2016 ITTF Olympic Team Ranking list will be taken into account for qualification purposes.

    In the Olympic team ranking released in April, Nigeria occupied 26th place to be the best rated men’s team from Africa, while Egypt was second placing 32nd in the rating.

    At the London 2012 Olympic Games, Egypt beat Nigeria to the slot for the first time as Nigeria has won the slots since 1992 when table tennis became medal hauling event at the Olympic Games.

    However, the President, African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy, had told NationSport in Algiers recently that Nigeria may pick the slot ahead of Egypt in the men’s event while Egypt will represent the continent in the women team event.

    “Thus as per the published ITTF ranking list as of April 2016, the current situation now is that for men, Nigeria is in front to take the qualification card for team event in Rio with position no. 26 while Egypt is coming next with position no. 32. For the women, Egypt is in front to take the qualification card for team event in Rio with position no. 31 while Nigeria is coming next with position no. 40. This is for sure in case the application to count on ranking of April 2016, while we have to wait as the ranking list of May is the one to be taken into consideration after adding some more points through Kuwait, Qatar and Polish Opens,” the ATTF boss said.

  • Buhari congratulates Team Nigeria

    Buhari congratulates Team Nigeria

    President Muhammad Buhari has expressed appreciation at the performance of Team Nigeria at the All Africa Games (AAG) which just ended in Brazzaville, Congo.

    He urged the Nigerian athletes, who came second  on the overall medals table to make Nigeria proud by constantly improving on their performance.

    In a press statement in Abuja released on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity,  Garba Shehu, the President said he was impressed with the performance of Team Nigeria at the continental event, and that he was not in doubt about their zeal and determination to make Nigeria great.

    It also expressed the President’s deep joy that several of the teams did Nigeria proud and singled out for special commendation, the basketball team, D’Tigers Basketball Team which earned the nation a gold medal for the first time in 50 years, and by which feat, the country got an automatic ticket to the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.

    President Buhari noted that the performance of Team Nigeria at the Congo games has yet again brought the massive potentials of Nigerian sports men and women to excel in their chosen areas against all odds.

    He implored the country’s athletes to do all they can to ensure that Nigeria regains its number one position in Africa and the world at large.

    The statement disclosed that a presidential delegation had attended the closing ceremony and conveyed the President’s congratulations to Team Nigeria and its officials.

    Promising the team a fitting ceremony, President Buhari assured Nigeria’s sports men and women that his administration would accord priority to sports, in addition to boosting the morale of the players and enhancing training for future challenges.

    He reminded the sports men and women not to rest on their oars because the challenges grow bigger and more complex each day.