Odunayo Adekuoroye and Blessing Oborududu delivered electrifying performances in their respective wrestling categories to hand in two more gold medals to Team Nigeria’s collections at the ongoing 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Former Youth Games and African Champion, Elizabeth Kolawole also won bronze in the Women’s 55kg wrestling category to increase Team Nigeria’s tally to 16
Athletics, Table Tennis and Para Table Tennis also delivered fair results on the 8th day of the Commonwealth Games
WRESTLING
Heading to the 2022 Commonwealth Games, observers had always spoke highly of Odunayo Adekuoroye and Blessing Oborududu in the Wrestling as definite medal winners in their categories and this confidence was not misplaced
Odunayo Adekuoroye started strong and kept up the momentum as she moved from opponent to opponent before finally sealing a gold medal after a win over her fourth opponent on the day, Team India’s Anshu Malik.
The dominant 7-3 Victory by points win handed Adekuoroye her third consecutive Commonwealth gold medal in this category since 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
For Team Nigeria’s Co-captain Blessing Oborududu, it was smooth work through the ranks in the Women’s 68kg Wrestling category until the finals against Team Canada’s Linda Morais where she delivered a commanding performance to win 5-1 by points.
2020 African Games Champion, Esther Omolayo Kolawole was inconsolable as she broke down in tears after she won her bronze medal match in the Women’s 62kg wrestling event. The 20-year-old rued missing out on Gold on the day but just did enough to get past Team Scotland’s Abbie Fountain in the race to Bronze.
With more wrestling events coming up on Day 9, more medals will be expected from Team Nigeria with all eyes on Mercy Genesis.
ATHLETICS
Tobi Amusan put up a dominant performance in Heat 1 of the 100m Women’s Hurdles as the World Record holder ran a 12.40s to book her place in the finals on Day 10 of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Team Nigeria’s quartet of Johnson Nnamani, Samson Nathaniel, Ezekiel Nathaniel and Sikiru Adeyemi ran a 3:06.36 in the 4x400m relay in their qualifying heats to come 4th and book a place in the final.
Ese Brume also booked a place in the Long Jump final with two jumps of 6.61m and 6.83m. Ruth Usoro also joined her in the final after a no-jump and a 6.59m attempt.
In the Men’s shot-put final, Team Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi finished fourth and out of the medals position.
Favour Ofili made it look easy as she booked a finals place with a 22.66s time in the Women’s 200m semi final race
In the 400m finals, Team Nigeria missed out in both Men’s and Women’s categories as Patience Okon Gorge finished 5th in the semi finals, Dubem Anene did not finish, Samson Nathaniel and Adewale Sikiru both finished 6th in their respective heats.
Udodi Onwuzuruike became the last member of Team Nigeria standing in the Men’s 200m race as he booked a final place while Ifeanyi Ojeli and Alaba Akintola failed to book a finals place.
TABLE TENNIS AND PARA TABLE TENNIS
Para Table Tennis saw Team Nigeria’s Faith Obazuaye, Tajudeen Agunbiade AND Isau Ogunkunle all taste defeats in their semi final matches.
Nasiru Sule won his semi-final match and made it through to the finals with Team Nigeria now guaranteed a medal in the Men’s Classes 3-5 category.
Ifechukuwude Ikpeoyi also won her semi-final match in the Women’s Classes 6-10 to book a place in the finals
It was a great outing for Team Nigeria as 2 Para athletes booked their place in the finals and three in the bronze matches across different event categories
In the Women’s singles category, Offiong Edem lost her Round of 16 match to Team Australia’s Jian Fang Lay 4-1 and this meant that no member of Team Nigeria made it to the Quarter finals of the Women’s Singles Table Tennis event.
In the Men’s Double’s category, Team Nigeria’s Amadi Omeh and Olajide Omotayo won 3-1 over Team Guyana’s Britton Guy and Christopher Franklin in the Round of 16 but eventually lost in the quarter finals to familiar foes Team England’s Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford
Team Nigeria’s Men’s Doubles hopes were also ended when Aruna Quadri and Bode Abiodun were overpowered by Team Australia’s Nicholas Lum and Finn Luu 3-2
Aruna Quadri is also the last Team Nigeria member standing in the Men’s Singles category after a 3-0 Round of 16 win over Team Scotland’s Gavin Rumgay.
Both Bode Abiodun and Olajide Omotayo failed to get past their Round of 16 opponents in what has been an overall disappointing performance by the Nigerian Table Tennis tennis representative at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
For Team Nigeria, a total of 16 medals sees them retain their spot on the table at the end of Day 8 of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Team Nigeria’s 8th on the overall medal table with 7 gold medals, 3 silver medal and 6 bronze medals with more medals expected at the end of Day 9.
Team Australia retains its spot at the top of the medals table with a total of 140 medals – 50 gold, 44 silver and 46 bronze
2022 Commonwealth games Action continues Day 9 as Team Nigeria jostles for medals in Wrestling, Boxing, Table Tennis and Para Table Tennis.
