Team Nigeria has begun its staggered departure from the shores of the country to the United Kingdom for Birmingham2022 Commonwealth Games.
In an circular released earlier by the Ministry of youth and sports development and signed by its press director, Manga Mohammed, the team departure was confirmed to be in batches for the Games Village in Birmingham.
The communique also highlighted that a total of 94 athletes and 21 officials will represent Nigeria at the Games.
On Friday 22nd July 2022, the first group left through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos while another left through the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja.
Nigeria will compete in 9 different sports at the Games with the distribution of athletes and coaches as follows:
Athletics – 33 athletes, 5 coaches
Boxing – 9 athletes, 2 coaches
Judo – 4 athletes, 1 coach
Para Athletics – 5 athletes, 2 coaches
Para Table Tennis –7 athletes, 2 coaches
Para Powerlifting – 8 athletes, 2 coaches
Table Tennis – 8 athletes, 2 coaches
Weightlifting – 9 athletes 2 coaches
Wrestling – 11 athletes, 3 coaches
Although controversies around team selection still plague some quarters in the contingent, Team Nigeria look set to deliver.
Nigeria’s Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, the President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) Engineer Habu Gumel and the Chef de Mission to the Games, Dr Simon Ebhojiaye had a session with the batch of athletes that departed via the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja.
The Minister implored the athletes to be focused and disciplined citing the recent appraisal of the team by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).
The 2022 Commonwealth Games is set to begin on the 28th of July and go on until the 8th of August 2022 in United Kingdom’s West Midlands city of Birmingham.
The Games would see 72(54 countries and 18 territories) nations compete against one another across 26 different sports.
The opening ceremony of the games is due to begin at 7pm on Thursday, 28 July at the Alexander Stadium.
The closing ceremony will begin at 8pm on Monday, 8 August, and finish at approximately 10pm.
The 2022 Games will witness the debut of T20 Cricket and E-sports.
While Team Nigeria will not be partaking in the T20, it would have representatives in E-sport
