A golden day for Team Nigeria yesterday at the on-going African Games in Morocco. After a dawdling start in the games, which has seen Egypt establish a huge lead, Team Nigeria flew to seven gold medals yesterday with football, wrestling and athletics leading the way.
The Women national U-20 team, Falconets set the ball rolling with a hard-fought penalty shoot-out overcome of Cameroun in the female football event before the wrestling team set Nigeria’s camp ablaze with five gold medals out of the six finals they fought in.
And then, ,Ese Brume , Commonwealth champion leapt to her first African Games title in the women long jump event.
The keenly contested women football final game between two teams that had battled to a 1-1 draw in a group phase match eight days earlier ended 0-0 after regulation and extra time at the Stade Boubker Aamar outside Rabat.
Penalty
shoot-out followed and the Nigeria U20 girls, one of only four teams to have
featured in every edition of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup since the
competition started 17 years ago, triumphed.
The victory was the first gold for the Falconets at the African Games in 12
years, having not qualified for the 10th edition in Mozambique in 2011 and
finishing outside the medals’ range in Brazzaville four years ago.
Today
their male counterparts, Flying Eagles will attempt to win their first gold
medal since the country last won it in 1973.
The seven-time African champions edged a memorable encounter with Mali in the
semi-finals, which went into extra time, penalty shoot-out and sudden death
session before they could be separated.
Nigeria
dominated women wrestling held in El Jadida, Morocco, with reigning African
Games gold medalists, Blessing Oborududu (68kg), Odunayo Adekuoroye (57kg),
Mercy Genesis (50kg) and Aminat Adeniyi (62kg) retaining their titles. African
Champion, Blessing Onyebuchi (76kg) came good, while 2018 African champion Bose
Samuel (53kg) settled for silver after losing to Cameroun’s Essombe Joseph 2-4
in the final.
The five
gold-medalists did not concede a point in their respective final bouts. Earlier
on Wednesday, Team Nigeria’s Tochukwu Okeke (87kg) claimed bronze in the
Greco-Roman event.
