Team Nigeria – NAN Archive

Ijeoma Okigbo
Feb, Wed, 2020

Sport

Wrestling: Team Nigeria delays return flight due to bad weather

Weather

By Ijeoma Okigbo

Abuja, Feb. 12, 2020 (NAN) Team Nigeria to the just-ended African Wrestling Championships has delayed its scheduled flight back home from Algeria due to bad weather conditions.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria had participated in the championships in Algiers where the team won 14 medals and was due back home on Tuesday night.

But it later wrote on its twitter handle @wrestlingngr that the trip would be delayed by another day.

“Our team is stuck in Istanbul. Bad weather forces our flight to Lagos to be cancelled.

“Our return is now delayed by another day,” its twitter account disclosed further.(NAN)

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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Victor Okoye
Sep, Fri, 2019

Sport

Ukraine friendly: Ekong, Etebo lead Super Eagles to Dnipro, with team captain Musa sidelined

Friendly
By Victor Okoye
Abuja, Sept. 6, 2019 (NAN) Italy–based defender William Ekong and England-based midfielder Oghenekaro Etebo are expected to lead the delegation of Super Eagles’ players into Dnipro for Saturday’s friendly against Ukraine.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Super Eagles are expected to take on the host country’s senior team on Tuesday in an international friendly match.

It is the first outing for the three-time African champions since they finished third at the first–ever 24-team Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) held in Egypt from June to July.

Goalkeepers Francis Uzoho and Ikechukwu Ezenwa, defenders Olaoluwa Aina, Chidozie Awaziem, Ekong, Leon Balogun and Jamilu Collins, as well as midfielders Alex Iwobi and Etebo were in Egypt.

There were also forwards Victor Osimhen, Moses Simon, Samuel Chukwueze, Paul Onuachu and Samuel Kalu.

But there would be excitement about a rash of new faces alongside a couple of returnees.

Defenders Bryan Idowu and Oluwasemilogo Ajayi, and Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho are back after being overlooked for the Africa Cup.

Germany–based goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, midfielder Joseph Aribo of Scottish club Glasgow Rangers and forwards Joshua Maja (France) and Emmanuel Dennis (Belgium) are hitting the camp for the first time.

Saudi Arabia–based team captain Ahmed Musa however pulled out of the trip on Thursday night as a result of injury which has failed to heal as quickly as he expected.

This has added to the earlier forced withdrawals of defenders Kenneth Omeruo and Tyronne Ebuehi, midfielder Wilfred Ndidi and forward Henry Onyekuru.

The Dnipro Arena, which is home ground to top club FC Dnipro, is a 31,000 capacity facility that was opened in September 2008

It is situated in the city of Dnipro, the third largest city in Ukraine after the capital city Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Ukraine is rated number 25 on the FIFA ranking while Nigeria is 33rd.

FULL LIST OF 22 EAGLES FOR UKRAINE FRIENDLY

Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho (Omonia FC, Cyprus); Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Heartland FC); Emil Maduka Okoye (Fortuna Dusseldorf, Germany)

Defenders: Olaoluwa Aina (Torino FC, Italy); Chidozie Awaziem (CD Leganes, Spain); William Ekong (Udinese FC, Italy); Leon Balogun (Brighton and Hove Albion, England)

Jamilu Collins (SC Padeborn 07, Germany); Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion, England); Bryan Idowu (Lokomotiv Moscow, Russia)

Midfielders: Alexander Iwobi (Everton FC, England); Anderson Esiti (PAOK Salonica, Greece); Oghenekaro Etebo (Stoke City FC, England); Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City, England); Joseph Aribo (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland)

MForwards: Victor Osimhen (Lille OSC, France); Moses Simon (FC Nantes, France); Joshua Maja (Girondins Bordeaux, France); Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal FC, Spain); Samuel Kalu (Girondins Bordeaux, France); Paul Onuachu (KRC Genk, Belgium); and Emmanuel Dennis (Club Brugge, Belgium).(NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Muhyideen Jimoh
Sep, Mon, 2019

Sport

Medals: Minister pledges to break 20-year jinx at Tokyo Olympics

Pledge

By Muhyideen Jimoh

Abuja, Sept. 2, 2019 (NAN) The Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has pledged to ensure Nigeria wins gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and break the jinx of not winning gold medals since Sydney 2000.

The minister made the pledge in an interview after receiving the Team Nigeria contingent which participated in the 12th African Games at Morocco.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Team Nigeria arrived in Abuja on Sunday evening after finishing second overall at the just-concluded African Games in Rabat.

The minister who commended the contingent for a job well done promised to work with relevant stakeholders to ensure Nigeria wins gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“This is a team of champions. Members of the team have been professional and committed. In spite of all odds, they came out tops just behind Egypt on the medals table.

“The result of Morocco signposts what is going to happen at Tokyo Olympics, We will go there and win not just one gold, but gold medals by the grace of God.

“This is a team that is very inspiring and we intend to keep them together, ” he said.

NAN reports that Nigeria last won an Olympic gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics in the men’s 4x400m, though it was formally awarded to Nigeria eight years later due to Team USA’s disqualification on doping grounds.

Nigeria has been participating in the Olympics since 1952, but it only won its first gold medals at Atlanta in 1996 in football and long jump.

The country has won three gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze medals since then.

At the last Olympics at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Nigeria managed to win just a bronze medal in the football event.

The Tokyo Olympics is scheduled to hold from July 24 to Aug. 9, 2020.(NAN)
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(Edited by Sadiya Hamza)

Muhyideen Jimoh
Sep, Sun, 2019

Sport

12th African Games: Team Nigeria arrive in Abuja to rousing welcome

Arrival
By Muhyideen Jimoh
Abuja, Sept. 1, 2019 (NAN) Team Nigeria arrived in Abuja to a rousing welcome on Sunday after finishing second overall at the just-concluded 12th African Games in Rabat, Morocco.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the team arrived on Sunday evening via a chartered flight.

The Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, and other officials were on hand at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to welcome the athletes and officials.

Dare commended the contingent for representing the country well and promised them better welfare and preparations for future international competitions.

Team Nigeria capped a memorable outing in Morocco with a second place finish, behind defending champions Egypt.

Egypt emerged tops on the medals table with 99 gold, 96 silver and 69 bronze medals, while Nigeria won a total of 121 medals.

South Africa, Algeria and hosts Morocco complete the top five respectively, after 15 days of sports activities in the North African country.

The 12th African Games took place from Aug. 19 to Aug. 31.

Ghana is scheduled to host the next edition in 2023.(NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Muhyideen Jimoh
Aug, Tue, 2019

Sport

Aigbogun confident of success as football contingent heads to African Games ahead of Team Nigeria

Confidence
By Muhyideen Jimoh
Abuja, Aug. 13, 2019 (NAN) Flying Eagles’ head coach Paul Aigbogun on Tuesday in Abuja expressed confidence in his young home-based team doing the nation proud at the 12th African Games in Rabat, Morocco.

The coach gave the assurance while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) as his team departed the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport for Lagos, en route Rabat.

NAN reports that the team has 18 home-based players, and they had been training in Abuja since early in July to finalise preparations for the Games.

The coach had officially released the final 18-man list on Monday, with the team to be captained by Plateau United’s Ibrahim Abubakar.

Aigbogun, while expressing his confidence in the players, said he had worked with most of the boys in the build-up to the 2019 FIFA World Cup in Poland.

“I have a lot of confidence in the team, in spite of the players being all home-based.

“My first goal is to win our first match against Burkina Faso on Friday and we will build from there,” he said.

NAN reports that most of the players picked for the Games were part of the training camp in Germany before the FIFA U-20 World Cup held in May and June.

Andrew Randa, the team’s media officer, told NAN the team was physically and psychologically ready to do the nation proud.

He disclosed that a foreign-based player, from Stoke City in England, was earlier expected to join the team in Rabat.

“But he will not be making it due to logistics reasons,” Randa said.

The Flying Eagles will start their campaign in the football event on Friday against Burkina Faso.

The team will then take on South Africa on Aug. 20 and round off the group stage matches against hosts Morocco on Aug. 23, all in Rabat.(NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Muhyideen Jimoh
Aug, Mon, 2019

Sport

12th African Games: Adesola tasks athletes on discipline, patriotism

Games
By Muhyideen Jimoh
Abuja, Aug. 12, 2019 (NAN) Olusade Adesola, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports Development, on Monday urged Nigerian athletes to the 12th African Games in Morocco to be disciplined and patriotic.

Adesola, while visiting the athletes’ camps in Abuja as they prepare to depart Nigeria for Morocco, said this was important in the quest to win medals at the Games.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 12th African Games is scheduled for between Aug. 19 and Aug. 31 in Rabat.

NAN also reports that Team Nigeria, comprising 462 athletes and officials, will depart Nigeria for Morocco in two batches from Thursday.

The Permanent Secretary assured the athletes that everything had been put in place in terms of welfare and logistics to ensure a good outing for them.

“You need to be of good discipline and shun any form of doping, if you want to excel at the highest level. As you know, the greatest sports men and women are those that are full of good discipline,” he said.

Adesola also urged all the coaches in the 22 sports in which Nigeria would be competing to guide the athletes in line with international best practices.

Seldom Mamdum, captain of Nigeria’s weightlifting team, who responded on behalf of the athletes, promised a good medals haul for Team Nigeria at the Games.

The camps visited by the Permanent Secretary included those of football (male and female), weightlifting, taekwondo, handball, basketball, karate, rowing and shooting.

NAN reports that Team Nigeria finished second in the last edition of the Games in Congo Brazzaville in 2015.(NAN)
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(Edited by ‘Wale Sadeeq and Olawale Alabi)

Dorcas Jonah
Oct, Tue, 2018

Sport

Youth Olympics: Team Nigeria departs for Argentina

Caption:

Youth Olympics: Team Nigeria departs for Argentina
By Dorcas Jonah
Youth
Abuja, Oct. 2, 2018 (NAN) A total of 17 athletes and 18 officials on Tuesday departed Abuja for Argentina ahead of the 2018 Youth Olympics slated for Oct. 6 to Oct. 18, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The athletes include five athletics, two badminton, two table tennis, two rowing and canoeing, two wrestlers, two golfers and two boxers.
Bidding the team farewell at the Abuja National Stadium, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youths and Sports, Olusade Adesola, urged them to go for the best and compete clean to make the country proud.
According to him, “the athletes are in high spirit, we have trained them very well to enable them excel’’.
“We have cultivated in them the passion to deliver and I am sure they will deliver knowing that they are not only representing Nigeria but Africa.
“They are not under any pressure to deliver but they have the passion to do so. Our slogan is: `whatever is good, is good for me’, they are going there to compete and come out victorious.
“We encourage them to be kind, hospitable, considerate but to go for victory, they are not going to play the game under the influence of inducement, they are going for fair games,’’ he said.
Speaking on behalf of the team, Captain Ineh Emmanuel pledged to give their best to make the country proud.
“We are the best of the best here that make the team for the youth Olympics, and I believe that we are going to put in our best,’’ he said.
He thanked the ministry for the support and encouragement to the team, adding that they had adequate training that will see them through the championship.
NAN also reports that Nigeria would participate in eight sports, while the second batch of the team would depart on Oct. 10. (NAN)
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Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Dorcas Jonah
Jul, Sun, 2018

Sport

Nigeria shines in weightlifting as Team Nigeria win 105 medals from AYG

Medals

By Dorcas Jonah
Abuja, July 29, 2018 (NAN) Team Nigeria to the third edition of the African Youth Games (AYG) which ended in Algiers, Algeria on Saturday finished with a total number of 105 medals won from 19 sports.

The team won 29 gold, 33 silver and 43 bronze medals, with weightlifting giving it the richest haul of a total of 18, comprising 12 gold, five silver and one bronze medals.

Wrestling gave Nigeria more in terms of quantity, even though it was in fourth place in terms of quality, winning 19 medals made up of three gold, 10 silver and six bronze.

Athletics was second behind weightlifting, and ahead of canoe/kayak in third place, having given Team Nigeria five gold, three silver and five bronze.

Nigeria won four gold, three silver and one bronze from canoe/kayak, while badminton gave it two gold, two silver and seven bronze, and boxing two gold, two silver and two bronze.

The team however failed to win any medal from hockey, beach volleyball, tennis and swimming at the Games which was held from July 18 to July 28.

Attached is the full table of medals won from each sport by Team Nigeria, as well as the athletes who won each medal:

SN Sports Sum of Gold Sum of Silver Sum of Bronze Total Number of Medals

1 Athletics 5 3 5 13

2 Badminton 2 2 7 11

3 Basketball 0 1 1 2

4 Boxing 2 2 2 6

5 Canoe/Kayak 4 3 1 8

6 Cycling 0 2 0 2

7 Football 0 1 0 1

8 Gymnastics 0 0 2 2

9 Handball 0 0 1 1

10 Judo 0 2 3 5

11 Karate 0 0 2 2

12 Kungfu 0 1 5 6

13 Rowing 0 0 1 1

14 Shooting 0 0 1 1

15 Table Tennis 0 1 1 2

16 Taekwondo 0 0 4 4

17 Volleyball 1 0 0 1

18 Weightlifting 12 5 1 18

19 Wrestling 3 10 6 19

Grand Total 29 33 43 105
(NAN)
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Victor Okoye
Apr, Thu, 2018

Sport

2018 Commonwealth Games: Nigeria beat Belize, Malaysia in table tennis

Table tennis
By Victor Okoye
Abuja, April 5, 2018 (NAN) The Nigerian table tennis team began their campaign in Group 4 of the men’s team event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia on a bright note on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Team Nigeria defeated Malaysia and Belize in their opening two ties on Thursday.

Olajide Omotayo defeated Chee Feng from Malaysia in three straight sets, recording 13-11, 15-13, 11-7 in his second match of the day.

Omotayo had earlier defeated Rohit Pagarani from Belize 11-4, 11-2,11-2 in his first game.

Bode Abiodun also beat Mohammed Rizal from Malaysia 11-5,11-7,13-11 in his second game after he had outclassed Devesh Hukmani also from Belize 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 in his first game.

In the men’s team doubles, the pair of Azeez Jamiu and Olajide Omotayo lost 4-11, 9-11 and 7-11 to Javen Choong and Chee Feng Leong from Malaysia.

They had earlier defeated Terry Su and Devesh Hukmani from Belize 11-6, 11-4, 11-5.

Jamiu bounced back from the team’s doubles defeat to edge Mohammed Rizal from Malaysia 3-2 in a keenly-contested game.

The 34-year-old won the game 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8 to hand Nigeria a 3-1 win over Malaysia in their second group game.

Abiodun will take on Javen Choong from Malaysia and Terry Su from Belize later on Thursday in his remaining games, while Jamiu will face Rohit Pagarani from Belize.

NAN also reports that the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games will be Nigeria’s 13th since its maiden appearance in 1950.

Team Nigeria will also be seeking to surpass their best performance at the competition, having won a record 37 medals at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada.

Nigeria won 36 medals (11 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze) at the last edition of the Commonwealth Games which was held in Glasgow, Scotland in 2014.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games which got underway with a colorful opening ceremony on Wednesday is expected to end on April 15.(NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Dorcas Jonah
Apr, Tue, 2018

Sport

Commonwealth Games: Dalung urges Team Nigeria to compete fairly

Games

By Dorcas Jonah

Abuja, April 3, 2018 (NAN) The Minister of Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalung, on Tuesday advised Nigerian athletes at the XXI Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia to compete fairly

without tarnishing the country’s image.

Nneka Ikem-Anibeze, the Special Assistant on Media to Dalung, quoted the minister in a statement as giving the advice while addressing Team Nigeria athletes and officials in Gold Coast.

He addressed the athletes immediately after the Welcome Ceremony organised by the organisers of the Games to officially welcome Team Nigeria to the Games Village.

Dalung charged the athletes to be good ambassadors of the country adding that ”to whom much is given, much is expected.

“I see you are all (to be) in high spirits and it shows that you have prepared for the competition.

“President Muhammadu Buhari, the father of the nation, has sent his special greetings to inspire Team Nigeria.

“It is the President’s wish, that at the end of our sojourn here, the name of Nigeria will be greater.

“Mr President also said that he will be very happy to receive clean medals even if they’re of the lowest cadre than 10 tainted medals.

“Occasions like this bring opportunities for us to make new friends, develop new bonds and have a network of new relationships.

“The keys to success in life is hardwork, respect, love, kindness and team spirit.”

The minister expressed optimism that Team Nigeria’s performance at the Games would exceed previous performances.

“In this Games, Nigerians are expecting nothing short of surpassing their record in the last Games.”

The welcome ceremony was held earlier for the teams’ arrival at the Games Village.

The ceremony was to officially acknowledge teams present for the Games.

The ceremony saw the athletes being entertained with a dance troupe from the Munujali tribe.

Preceding the performance, athletes watched from the sidelines as the Nigerian flag was raised and the national anthem sung.

A commemorative indigenous shield was presented to Dalung while Team Nigeria in return presented the talking drum to their hosts.

Also speaking to the athletes, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Olusade Adesola, urged the athletes to give their best as they have been motivated to make Nigerians proud.

“You will agree with me that we have never had it so good. You’ve all been paid your pre-Games camping allowances and all your entitlements will be given to you here.”

Each gold medalist will receive $5,000, silver will attract $3,000 while bronze medalists will get $2,000 each.

Also at the Games village to encourage the athletes were the past and present Presidents of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Sani Ndanusa and Habu Gumel respectively, as well as the Nigerian Ambassador to Australia, Bello Husseini.

The opening ceremony of the XXI Commonwealth Games holds on Wednesday at the Carrara Stadium in Gold Coast from 7 p.m.(NAN)

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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

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