ADESOKAN
Nigeria
may not have won the just-concluded 2015 All Africa Games in Congo, but
some of the country’s athletes posted some eye-catching performances at
the continent’s top sports showpiece, writes ’TANA AIYEJINA
The Congo 2015 All Africa Games ended on Saturday with Nigeria again unable to win the continent’s top sports competition.
But quite remarkably, the country still
made a mark in athletics in Brazzaville, despite the athletics team’s
unforgettable appearance at the Beijing 2015 World Championships, just
on the eve of the African games.
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With
Blessing Okagbare suddenly showing up and helping Nigeria to a women’s
4x100m relay gold, an amazing 20 medals — 10 gold, seven silver and
three bronze— by the athletics team, rare gold medals in cycling and
beach volleyball, eight weightlifting gold medals, fascinating outings
by the boxers and some eye-popping performances by Nigeria’s
para-athletes, it was always going to be a tournament to remember.
In a twist of fate, the football event,
despite the early flashes of promise from the country’s men and women’s
team, ended in near-misery for both teams. Samson Siasia’s U-23 team
only managed a bronze medal finish after losing 3-1 to Burkina Faso in
the semi-final. They defeated hosts Congo 5-3 in the third-place game
after a goalless draw.
The Super Falcons were also beaten 3-1 in
the semi-finals by Cameroon and the African champions again lost the
third-place to Ivory Coast, who had beaten them in the group stage. It
was the Falcons’ third defeat in five games at the event.
But there were several other moments to cherish at the event as far as Team Nigeria were concerned.
Onuah sets pace
For Elizabeth Onuah, it was an
unforgettable debut at the continent’s top sports competition. The
Edo-born athlete began the inflow of gold medals into Team Nigeria’s
camp, when she won the country’s first two gold medals at the games on
September 8.
The lifter won two gold in clean and jack
and snatch before settling for another bronze in the 48kg category to
cap an amazing debut at the AAG.
Five powerlifters break world records
Once again, Nigeria’s para-athletes
showed their class at international sporting competitions, with a bagful
of medals in Congo. The duo of powerlifters Yakubu Adesokan and Esther
Oyema initially stood out in the pack, setting world records at the
African event.
Adesokan, competing in the men’s 49kg
category, lifted a massive 182.5kg to win gold and also set a new world
record in the process.
The 36-year-old had previously set the
world record at the 2012 Paralympic Games with a lift of 177kg. The
record was erased by a Vietnamese, who lifted 181kg. But Adesokan has
the bragging rights once more with his latest heroics.
Another Nigerian, Esther Oyema, set a new
world record in Brazzaville. Competing in the women’s 55kg category,
Oyema lifted 133kg to erase the previous 126kg record, also set by her.
However on Friday, three new world
records were set by another set of impressive female powerlifters Bose
Omolayo, Loveline Obiji and Precious Orji.
Omolayo lifted 137.5kg in the women’s
79kg while Obiji lifted 149kg in the women’s 86kg category, before Orji,
competing in the women’s 86kg, lifted 164kg to complete a hat trick of
records and gold medals for Team Nigeria in Congo.
Uke enters record books
Uke
US-based Uke won a gold and silver at her
debut appearance at the African games in Congo. Uke struck gold in the
women’s discus event to enter the record books as the first Nigerian
woman ever to achieve the feat, with her third round throw of 54.25m
enough to secure the historic victory.
The 23-year-old was also tipped to win
the shot put event in the absence of favourite Chinwe Okoro but her
16.64m throw only earned her a silver medal.
Her personal season’s best of 17.95m in
the shot put (indoors), the best by an African this season, was achieved
at the 2015 C-USA Indoor Championships, where she broke Regina
Cavanaugh’s ’87 29-year-old record. It was her third-consecutive C-USA
Indoor title.
Although Uke is hoping to compete at the
2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, she’s actually not interested in a
long-term professional career. Rather, her sights are set on medicine.
“I’m a kinesiology major with a
concentration in sports medicine. My dream career is to be an
orthopaedic surgeon,” she told news.rice.edu.
Oke returns with gold
Oke
Tosin Oke placed eighth in the men’s
triple jump event at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing after a
bust-up with officials of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria.
But after stating that he will not
compete in Congo, Oke perhaps mended fences with the federation and was
in Brazzaville to defend his AAG title, won four years ago in Maputo
with a jump of 16.65m. His jump of 17.00m in the final of the AAG was a
huge improvement on the 16.81m he achieved in Beijing. He will be hoping
to consolidate on his AAG performance with a better outing at next
year’s Olympics.
Female wrestlers reach final
Nigeria’s female wrestlers posted amazing
performances, with all of them reaching the finals of their various
events at the Massamba Debat Gymnasium.
The eight wrestlers are: Genesis Mercy
(48kg), Opuene Patience (55kg), James Ebi (60kg), Reuben Hannah (69kg),
Adekuoroye Odunayo (53kg), Adeniyi Aminat (58kg), Oborududu Blessing
(63kg) and Onyebuchi Blessing (75kg).
Genesis, Adekuoroye, Opuene, Adeniyi,
Oborududu all won gold while James, Reuben and Onyebuchi grabbed silver
to help improve Nigeria’s standing on the medal log.
Osazuwa breaks 20-year jinx
Osazuwa
Heptathlon athlete Naomi Osazuwa had a
nightmarish debut appearance at the 2011 AAG in Maputo, where she
competed in only one of seven events: the 100m hurdles and failed to
start in the remaining six.
In Brazzaville however, Osazuwa was out
to make a statement but had to wait until the last of the seven events
of the women heptathlon to overcome Benin Republic’s Ahouanwanou Odile,
to claim gold. It was the first time a Nigerian would be winning the
event in 20 years.
The US-based athlete won the 800m event
of the heptathlon with a new personal best of 2:20.12. The feat helped
Osazuwa amass a total of 5,892 points to leave Odile, who was hitherto
leading, in second place with 5,734 points.
The last time Nigeria won the event was
at the Harare edition of the games in 1995, when Oluchi Elechi claimed
gold. Before then, the other Nigerians who won the multi-sport event
were Bella Bell-Gam (1978) and Rita Izojie (1991).
Youngster Olamigoke impresses
The alleged exclusion of up-and-coming
triple jumper Olumide Olamigoke from Nigeria’s contingent to the 2015
World Championships by Athletic Federation of Nigeria, raised some
eyebrows. The youngster was reportedly handed a wild card by IAAF to
feature at the event but was left out of the trip to Beijing in
controversial circumstances.
However in Brazzaville, the youngster,
who was born in Lagos, gave Oke a tough fight for the AAG men’s triple
jump gold with his 16.98m effort. He eventually ended up with silver on
his debut appearance at the continental championships.
