Nigeria’s Top 10 Sporting Moments

Table tennis, cricket and the National Sports Festival have undoubtedly brought a smile to over 200 million Nigerians.

The biggest moments in Nigerian sports in 2020 were Tobi Amusan’s historic feat at the World Championships in Oregon, the National Sports Festival, the ITTF Africa table tennis festival in Lagos, the Nigerian cricket team Nigeria conquering Africa and the historic feat of Nigeria U17 in India, among other sports activities.

Oluwatobiloba Ayomide ‘Tobi’ Amusan, was the main talking point for Nigeria Athletics this year, following his historic performance at the World Championships in Oregon, where he won the 100m hurdles world title and posted a world record (WR) of 12 .12 sec.

By doing this, she became Nigeria’s first ever World Outdoor Champion and WR holder. A few weeks later, at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, she successfully defended her Commonwealth title and posted a game record (GR) time of 12:30, another first in Nigerian athletics history.

Amusan capped off her outstanding season at the Diamond League in Zurich where, against all odds, she retained her title, achieving a fantastic meeting record (MR) of 12.29 s, thus becoming the first Nigerian athlete to win two trophies. of the Diamond League.

Her fantastic performances this season earned her a spot in the top five finalists for the World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year Award, finishing runner-up behind Sydney McLaughlin of the USA and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica.

The Nigerian women’s under-17 team known as the Flamingos returned to the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup after a six-year absence.

Coach Bankole Olowookere led the team to set a new team record after winning the bronze medal in India.

The Flamingos’ previous best result in the tournament was the quarterfinals which they reached in three of five appearances (2010, 2012 and 2014).

Aruna Quadri became the first African to rank in the top ten in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings.

In May, the Nigerian was ranked number ten in the world, making him the first Nigerian or black table tennis player to reach the top echelon of the game of ping pong.

The former world player of the year also won the men’s singles title at the ITTF African Championships in Algeria in September.

Quadri had an incredible year with his performance in international games. The one born in Oyo will finish the year as number 15 in the world with 1745 points.

The undisputed queen of the African long jump, Ese Brume, was one of the athletes who provided special moments for Nigerians around the world.

Brume opened her brilliant title-winning season by taking a silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, which was Nigeria’s only medal at the championship.

Thereafter, the African Record (AR) holder was Nigeria’s second medalist behind Amusan at the World Championships in Oregon, winning a silver medal in the event. This was an improvement on the bronze medal she won at the last edition in Doha in 2019, thus becoming the first Nigerian athlete to win back-to-back medals at the World Championships.

Then at the Commonwealth Games, Brume regained her 2014 Commonwealth title, by jumping to a games record (GR) of 7.00m. In addition, she became the first African athlete in history to jump the 7.00m mark four times in one season.

Rivers United won the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) for the first time in the club’s history.

The Port Harcourt team won the league with 77 points from 38 games and became champions with three games remaining in the season.

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike rewarded the players with $20,000, more than 12 million naira for winning the NPFL.

The Nigerian Super Falcons finished fourth at the 12th Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

For the first time, Super Falcons did not win a medal at AFCON since the start of the competition.

Super Falcons is the most successful nation in the tournament.

Nigeria, Morocco, Zambia and Senegal will represent Africa at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year.

The Nigerian Under-17 team won the WAFU B Under-17 regional tournament in Cape Coast, Ghana.

Nigeria qualified for the U-17 African Championship in Algeria next year and the tournament will produce Africa’s standard bearers for next year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru.

The highlight of Nigeria’s sporting events will be the 21st National Sports Festival in the state of Delta.

The festival was previously scheduled to be held in Asaba, Delta State from November 2-15, 2022, but was later held from December 4-10.

The host dominated the festival with 648 medals, 320 gold medals, 200 silver medals, and 128 bronze medals. Bayelsa State finished in second place with a total of 337 medals, 132 gold medals, 115 silver medals, and 90 bronze medals, while Edo State finished third with 339 medals, 78 gold medals, 94 silver medals, and 167 medals. made of bronze.

Oyo State finished fourth on the record to set a record for winning 50 gold medals at a single national sports festival. The state won 163 medals, 51 silver and 62 bronze. Lagos finished fifth with 172 medals, 41 gold medals, 57 silver medals, and 74 bronze medals.

A total of 2652 medals were won by 35 states and FCT Abuja in 38 games, with only Zamfara state not winning a single medal.

Lagos is known for its colorful table tennis accommodation in Africa. The Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos hosted the 2022 ITTF Africa Cup.

The 2,000-capacity venue was filled with the atmosphere of electrified Lagos fans for the seven-day event.

Omar Assar of Egypt regained his men’s singles title after beating Quadri Aruna of Nigeria 4-3 in the final.

In the women’s category, 14-year-old Hana Goda became the youngest winner of the ITTF Africa Cup.

Nigerian youth athletes excelled at the All Africa Youth Games in Egypt.

The city of Cairo hosted the fourth edition of the game with Nigerian athletes ranging from 14 to 18 years old, making the country proud.