TEAM Nigeria had a glorious night in boxing and athletics at the African Games in Accra, Ghana last night on the eve of the closing ceremony.
It was especially in boxing that Team Nigeria excelled on the night, with the country carting home eight gold and two silver medals in a matter of hours.
Remarkably, Nigeria registered 11 boxers for the Games, and 10 of them reached the finals of their weight categories, with eight recording ultimate success.
Team Nigeria secured five of the gold in women’s boxing, with the men earning the other three.
Jacinta Umunnakwe (81kg), Blessing Oraekwe (70kg) and Cynthia Ogunsemilore (60kg) all contributed gold on the glorious Team Nigeria night in women’s boxing.
Patricia Mbata (75kg) and Joy Nene Ojo (57kg), whose opponent did not show up, also won gold, while Shukura Kareem (54kg) and Zainab Adeshina (50kg) bagged silver.
For the men, Omole Dolapo won the 57kg title, Adams Olaore the 92kg gold and Ifeanyi Onyekwere triumphed in the over 92kg category.
In athletics, Team Nigeria won the women’s 4x400m relay to round off the final night of competition.
The quartet of Esther Elo Joseph, the veteran Patience Okon-George, Brittany Ogunmokun and Omolara Omotosho-Ogunmakinju clocked 3 minutes 27.29 seconds to win the gold medal ahead of Zambia (3:31.85) and Botswana (3:33:44).
Earlier in the night, Chinecherem Nnamdi of Nigeria produced a huge 82.80m new national record to win the men’s javelin gold medal ahead of the great Kenyan Julius Yego, the 2015 World Athletics Championship silver medallist and 2016 Olympics gold medallist.
Yego’s best effort on the night was 81.70m to win silver, with Egypt’s Mahmoud Abdel Khaliq claiming bronze with 78.10m.
Team Nigeria also won silver medals in women’s shot put through Oyesade Olatoye and women’s 200m through Olayinka Olajide as well as bronze in men’s 200m (Consider Ekanem) and men’s 4x400m relay.
Overall, Team Nigeria topped the athletics medal table with 11 gold, six silver and five bronze medals.
