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Tag: Commonwealth Games

  • Commonwealth Games: X-raying Team Nigeria’s Remarkable Outing

    Commonwealth Games: X-raying Team Nigeria’s Remarkable Outing

    The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth games held in the United Kingdom has been dubbed the best outing for team Nigeria in the history of the competition.

    Interestingly, team Nigeria’s 12 gold medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games were won by female athletes, the medal haul of 35 is the highest the country has ever amassed since making her debut at the games.

    The quartet of Miesinnei Mercy Genesis (50 kg), Blessing Oborududu (57 kg), and Odunayo Adekuroye (57kg) won gold medals in women’s freestyle wrestling.

    Oluwatobiloba Amusan took the gold medal in the women’s long jump, while the quartet of Amusan, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Grace Nkwocha also secured the top spot in the women’s 4X100m relay.

    Other gold medalists are Folashade Oluwafemiayo, Women’s heavyweight Para Powerlifting, Eucharia Iyiazi, Women’s shot put; Chioma Onyekwere, and Goodness Nwachukwu in Women’s Discus throw; and Ese Brume, long jump.

    Nigeria was represented by a total of 93 Athletes comprising of 41 men and 52 women.

    Below is the breakdown:

    Sport Men Women Total
    Athletics 17 21 38
    Boxing 4 5 9
    Judo 2 2 4
    Para powerlifting 4 4 8
    Table tennis 8 7 15
    Weightlifting 2 7 9
    Wrestling 4 6 10
    Total 41 52 93

     

    Although none of them won Gold for Nigeria, some male athletes also made their presence felt at the games with their scintillating performances.

    Male Powerlifters

    Ikechukwu Obichukwu

    Ikechukwu Obichukwu won the silver medal in Powerlifting at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday.

    Obichukwu lifted 190kg to finish second behind Sudhir of India while Micky Yule of Scotland took bronze.

    Obichukwu’s medal took Team Nigeria to the top spot of the Powerlifting medal table with four medals from three Powerlifting events.

    Innocent Nnamdi

    Nigeria’s Innocent Nnamdi made it to the podium after placing third in the men’s lightweight Para-Powerlifting final at the ongoing Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

    Nnamdi got 132.5 points to finish behind Malaysia’s Bonnie Bunyau Gustin who created a new Commonwealth Games record en route to his para powerlifting gold medal on Thursday.

    4×100 Relay Team Male

    Nigerian quartet of Udodi Onwuzurike, Favour Ashe, Alaba Akintola and Raymond Ekevwo have won Bronze in the men’s 4x100m relay finishing in a time of 38.81s

    It was the first time Nigeria would get a podium finish in the event since Auckland 1990. The quartet of Victor Nwankwo, Davidson Ezinwa, Osmond Ezinwa, and Abdullahi Tetengi finished with a silver medal on that occasion.

    Ekevwo was second at some point in the anchor leg before he was overtaken by Trinidad and Tobago’s Kyle Greaux.

     

    Odunayo and Mercy  Adekuroye

    The two sisters who have carved a niche for themselves in Wrestling won Gold and Silver respectively for Nigeria in different categories at the Birmingham Commonwealth games.

    Adekuroye defeated India’s Anshu Malik 7-3  to help Nigeria to the gold medal.

    The 28-year-old came under pressure but was equal to the challenge from the Indian.

    The Ondo-born wrestler has never lost a wrestling match at the Commonwealth Games since she won her first title in 2014.

     

    Tobi Amusan

     

    Born April 23, 1997.

    She attended Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, Ijebu Ode.

    She recently won the 2022 World Athletics Championships 100 metres hurdles gold medal, setting a new world record of 12.12 seconds in the semifinal, followed up by a wind-assisted 12.06 seconds.

    She also won Diamond League Trophy in Zurich in 2021 in the 100m hurdles, becoming the first Nigerian to do so, and also breaking the then-African record held by Nigeria’s Glory Alozie in the process.

    Favour Chukwuka Ofili

    She was born on December 31, 2002.

    She holds the national record and the national Under-20 record over the 200m with a time of 21.96 seconds, thus making her the first Nigerian female athlete to run under the 22 seconds barrier.

    She ran 10.93s in the 100m at the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge, LA, on April 30, 2022, and became the first female NCAA athlete to run sub-22s and sub-11s.

    She currently competes at Louisiana State University.

    She held the NCAA collegiate record with her time of 21.96s in the 200m until Abby Steiner broke the record at NCAA Championships with a time of 21.80s.

    Rosemary Chukwuma

    She was born on December 5, 2001.

    She gained her first international experience at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia where she won a bronze medal behind the teams from England and Jamaica with the Nigerian 4 × 100 m relay team in 42.75 seconds.

    In 2019, she won triple gold at the Junior African Championships in Abidjan with 11.62 seconds and 23.81 seconds finishes over 100 m and 200 m respectively, and in 45.56 seconds with the Nigerian 4 × 100 m relay team. In early May, she ran in the 4 × 100 m relay for Nigeria at the IAAF World Relays in Yokohama with 45.07 seconds in the first round.

    Then she took part in the African Games for the first time in Rabat and reached the final of the 200m, where she did not start. She also won gold with the Nigerian relay team in 44.16 seconds.

    Nzubechi Nwokocha

    Born April 7, 2001, Nwokocha is multiple national champion over 100 metres.

    In 2021, she posted a new personal best time in the 100m of 11.09 seconds and, in the process, became the first Nigerian athlete to qualify for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She also won the 100m at the National Sports Festival in Benin.

    At the Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics Women’s 100 metres, she ran a new personal best time of 11.00 seconds in her heat to qualify for the semi-finals.

    In 2022, she came sixth in the final of the NCAA championship in both the 100 metres and the 200 metres. She entered both the 100m and the 200m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships and reached the semi-finals at both events. She also won the Nigerian National Championships over 100 metres.

    Nigeria sports is rising again –  Minister 

    The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has praised Team Nigeria athletes and officials on their record-breaking outing at the XXII Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

    He described Team Nigeria’s success in Birmingham as an indication that Nigerian sports is on the rise again despite the global economic downturn.

    Many new records were set as old Commonwealth records were broken by Nigerian athletes.

    “The performance of Team Nigeria is excellent, phenomenal and commanding. A signpost of better performances in the future. Congratulations to Team Nigeria athletes and officials on their history-making feat at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The athletes have once again demonstrated the true Nigerian spirit”, said the Minister in his congratulatory message.

    “Our success in Birmingham is an indication that Nigerian sports is on the rise again despite the global economic downturn. Our youth have shown the resilience Nigerians are known for and we, as a Sports Ministry, will ensure we continue with the reforms we started in 2019 and which have resulted in the geometrical growth of the sector” the Honourable Minister concluded.

    Nigeria won a total of 35 medals comprising of  12 gold, 9 silver and 14 bronze to rank seventh on the medal table.

    Nigeria is the highest ranked African nation at the tournament finishing first amongst African nations and 7th in the world. Australia finished first

    Nigeria – G: 12 – S: 9 – B: 14 = 35 South Africa – G: 7 – S: 9 – B: 11 = 27 Kenya – G: 6 – S: 5 – B: 10 = 21 Uganda – G: 3 – S: 0 – B: 2 = 5 Cameroon – G: 1 – S: 1 – B: 1 = 3 Zambia – G: 1 – S: 1 – B: 1 = 3 Mauritius – G: 0 – S: 3 – B: 2 = 5

     

  • BREAKING: Ese Brume breaks Commonwealth Games record, wins gold in long jump

    BREAKING: Ese Brume breaks Commonwealth Games record, wins gold in long jump

    Ese Brume broke the Commonwealth Games long jump record on Sunday, jumping an astronomical 7.00m to win gold for Nigeria.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Ese Brume fouled on her opening attempt in the women’s Long Jump final.

    However, in her second attempt, she jumped a Commonwealth Games record of 6.99m before going ahead to shatter that record.

    She added another 6.99m and 6.96m in her subsequent jumps, which none of her opponents could match or surpass, securing gold with a jump to spare.

    However, on her very last attempt, Brume jumped 7m for another Games record to become the first woman to jump that far in the history of the Commonwealth Games.

    Her compatriot, Ruth Usoro ended in 6th place.

  • Commonwealth Games: Team Nigeria female 4×100 wins Gold, Male team claims Bronze

    Commonwealth Games: Team Nigeria female 4×100 wins Gold, Male team claims Bronze

    Nigeria’s female quartet of Tobi Amusan, Ofili,  Chukwuma’s  and Nwokocha blew defending champions England away and made 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah settle for Bronze.

    Nigerian team won with a new African record of 42.10 second.

    Although Nigeria coming out tops may have surprised some, it was actually a replay of the team’s feat that saw them qualify for the final with the fastest qualifying time.

    Nigeria has won silver (2014) and bronze (1990 and 2018) in the 4x100m event in past editions and will feel it is time to move up to gold this time.

    The quartet have now stepped up their game by claiming gold medal first time in the country’s history.

    Meanwhile , the Nigerian quartet of Udodi Onwuzurike, Favour Ashe, Alaba Akintola and Raymond Ekevwo have won Bronze in the men’s 4x100m relay finishing in a time of 38.81s

  • [BREAKING] Tobi Amusan wins gold in 100m hurdle, breaks Commonwealth Games record

    [BREAKING] Tobi Amusan wins gold in 100m hurdle, breaks Commonwealth Games record

    Nigerian Tobi Amusan wins gold in 100m Women’s Hurdles with a new Commonwealth Games Record.

    Amusan is also the first World Champion to win Gold in the event and the first Nigerian athlete ever, dead or alive to be crowned champion at all levels of athletics in the same year.

    She posted a games record of 12.30 secs to retain the title she won in Gold Coast Australia four years ago.

    Amusan is now the world record holder as well as the commonwealth record holder for 100m hurdles

    Amusan was one of the favourites to get the gold at the tournament following her impressive showing at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, the United States, which saw her break multiple records to
    win Nigeria’s first gold at the World Championships.

    “The goal is always just to execute well and get the win. So the world record is a bonus. I knew I had it in me but I could not believe it when I saw it on the screen after the semis.

    “Before the final, I just tried to stay calm and to do my best. I took a deep breath knowing that I have some goals to accomplish and it worked pretty well. I knew it was very fast but not this fast,” Amusan
    said after her final victory.

    Coming up behind here were Bahamas’s Devynne Charlton (12.58secs) who took silver and England’s Cindy Sember (12.59secs) who took bronze with both some notable distance behind the eventual winner.
    With this result, Nigeria has now won 10 gold medals and 31 medals in total.

    Team Nigeria are now just one behind the gold medal record set by the 1994 team (11 gold medals) at the Commonwealth Games and six behind the total medals record (37 medals)

  • CWG Day 9: Nigeria leads African countries on medals table

    CWG Day 9: Nigeria leads African countries on medals table

    With additional gold medal on Saturday, Nigeria is now leading African team on the medals table at the ongoing Commonwealth Games.

    At the end of Day 8 at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Team Nigeria crawled behind South Africa in the eighth position, with a total of seven Gold, three Silver, and six Bronze Medals, making a total of 16 medals.

    However, on Saturday, Day 9, Nigeria’s athletes continued and dominated the Women’s F55-57 Shot Put event where Eucharia Iyayi won the gold, while Ugochi Alam settled for the bronze.

    Iyayi did not just win the gold, she did it in style; setting a new Commonwealth Games Record with a 10.03 throw.

    Team Nigeria, now have eight gold, three silver, and five bronze medals while South Africa now trails behind Nigeria with seven gold, seven silver, and nine bronze medals.
    Team Nigeria had up their ante with two gold medals and a bronze from the wrestling match on Day 8 of the ongoing 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

    Odunayo Adekuoroye defended the title she won in 2018 at the Gold Coast with a dominant performance in the women’s 57kg class.

    Blessing Oborududu, another defending Commonwealth Games champion and Olympic silver medallist also followed suit with an equally flawless run of results in the women’s 68kg category.

    Esther Kolawole won Bronze in the women’s 62kg class to cap a very fruitful Day 8 for Team Nigeria.

    With 7 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze medals, Team Nigeria remains in 8th place on the Medal Table.

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  • CWG2022: Genesis wins gold, Welson wins Silver as Nigeria moves 6th on medals table

    CWG2022: Genesis wins gold, Welson wins Silver as Nigeria moves 6th on medals table

    After Saturday’s round of games at the ongoing 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the second-largest city in the United Kingdom (UK), Nigeria has moved to the 6th position on the medal table, now leading the African countries on the medals table at the event.

    Saturday was Day 9 at the ongoing Commonwealth Games and athletes continued to churn out more medals for Nigeria as the event entered its final stages. Wrestling dominated the bulk of the medals on Saturday as Para table tennis, Para athletics and athletes in other sports continued to make the country proud.

    Wrestler Mercy Genesis won a gold medal for Nigeria, defeating Canadian Madison Parks 3-1 to win women’s Wrestling Freestyle 50kg. In the men’s freestyle 57kg, Ebikewenimo Welson won the Silver medal after losing  10-0 to India’s Kumar Ravi while compatriot Hannah Reuben lost 2-4 to Canada’s Justina Di Stasio to clinch silver for Nigeria in the Women’s freestyle 76kg event.

    In Para table tennis, Nigeria’s Isau Ogunkunle was dominant in his third place match and did not drop a game, comfortably winning his match in men’s singles classes 5-3. Ogunkunle defeated India’s Raj Alagar 3-0 to win bronze. In the same event, Nigeria’s Nasiru Sule lost 1-3 to England’s Jack Hunter-Spivey to settle for silver.

    Also in Para table tennis, Faith Obazuaye clinched the bronze medal in Women’s Singles Classes 6-10 third-place match. Obazuaye defeated Felicity Pickard of England 3-1 to finish on the podium. In Para Athletics, Eucharia Iyiazi threw a new Games Record of 10.03m to win the gold medal for Nigeria at the women’s shot put F55-57 event. Her national teammate Ugochi Alam got the Bronze with a throw of 9.30m.

    TNG reports more medals are, however, expected in boxing, table tennis and athletics, amongst others. The Games is scheduled to end on Monday.

  • Commonwealth Games: Team Nigeria increases medal haul to 30, claim Shot put gold, bronze

    Commonwealth Games: Team Nigeria increases medal haul to 30, claim Shot put gold, bronze

    The duo of  Eucharia Iyiazi and Ugochi Alam won gold and bronze respectively in the women’s F55-57 Shot Put final at the ongoing Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games on Saturday to increase Nigeria medal haul to 30.

    Both athletes’ efforts moved Team Nigeria up to seventh place in the medal standings with nine gold, eight silver and 13 bronze.

    Iyiazi threw a new Commonwealth Games record of 10.03m to win the gold medal for Nigeria.

    Also, Alam grabbed bronze with a throw of 9.30m to make it first and third for the country.

    The silver medal went to Cameroon’s Arlette Fokoa.

    Meanwhile, Esther Isa and Temitope Adeshina competed in the women’s High Jump final, finishing ninth and 10th respectively.

    Both athletes jumped an identical height of 1.81m, which was not good enough for a podium finish.

    Meanwhile, In athletics, Team Nigeria has reached the final of the 4x400m in both the male and female categories.

    In the male category, Nigeria finished top of the heat with a time of 38.85 seconds while the female team finished their race in 42.57 seconds.

  • Adekuroye wins gold for Nigeria in wrestling event

    Adekuroye wins gold for Nigeria in wrestling event

    Odunayo Adekuroye of Nigeria has won gold in the women’s 57kg freestyle wrestling event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games to retain the title she won  four years ago in Gold Coast Australia.

    Adekuroye defeated India’s Anshu Malik 7-3 on Friday in Birmingham to help Nigeria to its first gold medal in wrestling.

    Earlier in the day, World record holder Tobi Amusan  who admitted that she is “exhausted” after winning world 100m hurdles gold last month but the Nigerian hurdler looked impressive on Friday as she cruised through to the Commonwealth Games final.

    Amusan began the defence of her crown by finishing top of the qualifying times in 12.40sec, in windy conditions.

    “The mental part is there and the physical part is also done,” said Amusan. “But I’ve been so exhausted after those championships.

    “I’m just trying to hang in there and finish the season strong.”

    The 25-year-old Nigerian, who sported the logo “No Plastic Waste” on her tracksuit — is the favourite but are a clutch of rivals who could trouble her.

    Olympic bronze medallist Megan Tapper progressed serenely, winning her heat in 12.68sec.

    The other two potential challengers, England’s Cindy Sember and Jamaica’s Danielle Williams, are attempting to reboot their careers.

    Sember, who has failed to build on her fourth-place finish in the 2016 Olympic final in Rio, looked more like her former self as she cruised through her heat in 12.67sec.

    She showed a clean pair of heels to 29-year-old Williams, who won the 2015 world title.

    Amusan began the 2022 season in fine form, winning the 2022 Diamond League event in Paris, where she set an African record by 0.01s with a time of 12.41s.

    She followed that up with another great performance when she won the gold medal in the 100m hurdles at the 2022 African Championships in Mauritius, defending her title successfully with a time of 12.57s. She also competed in the women’s 4×100m and won gold.

    Meanwhile, Ese Brume and Ruth Usoro have sealed a place in the final of the Long Jump event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

    Brume hit the automatic qualification mark, leaping a distance of 6.81m (+0.3) on her second attempt.

    Usoro also booked her spot in the final, jumping a mark of 6.59m to finish joint 7th overall.

    The final of the event will take place on Sunday.

  • Commonwealth Games: Ese Brume hits automatic qualification mark for long jump final

    Commonwealth Games: Ese Brume hits automatic qualification mark for long jump final

    Through to the final, Nigeria’s Ese Brume on Friday hit the automatic qualification mark, leaping a distance of 6.81m (+0.3) on her second attempt to safely make it to the women’s long jump final.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Brume will return on Sunday looking to reclaim the Commonwealth Games title.

    Ruth Usoro also booked her spot in the final, jumping a mark of 6.59m to finish joint 7th overall alongside English Abigail Irozuru.

    Yet again, Usoro qualifies for the final of the long jump event at a major championship, her 3rd in 2022.

  • Commonwealth Games: Two of missing Sri Lankans traced, one still missing

    Commonwealth Games: Two of missing Sri Lankans traced, one still missing

    A Sri Lankan athlete and official who went missing during the ongoing Commonwealth Games have been traced, but a third remains missing, a Sports Ministry official said on Thursday.

    The tracing of the two members of the contingent has been conveyed to the Sri Lankan officials by West Midlands Police overseeing the Birmingham area where the Games are being held.

    “Both have been spoken to and are safe and well, and so they are no longer being treated as missing people”, a statement by the West Midlands Police said.

    The two persons traced are a female judo athlete, Chamila Dilani, and a team manager, Asela de Silva, who were among a contingent of 161 sportspersons and officials from Sri Lanka.

    However a third person, wrestler Sanith Chathuranga, still remains missing.

    Soon after the disappearance all passports of the entire contingent had been collected as a precaution, the official said.

    Sri Lanka have so far won a silver medal and two bronze medals at the Games in Birmingham.

    Sri Lanka are currently trying to overcome an economic crisis which led to fuel, gas, food and medicine shortages.