BOLD SPORTS WEEKLY | EDITION 003

Hello,

Nigeria left Glasgow with 24 medals. Then, while we were putting this edition together, Jessica Oji added another chapter.

The 19-year-old followed Commonwealth silver with world U20 shot put gold in Oregon, throwing 18.08m. That is the sort of progression Nigeria needs to produce more often.

This week, we look beyond the results: what Glasgow tells us about LA28, the rise of Nigeria’s male athletes, and how the U18 men arrived at AfroBasket with only seven players available.

The medals are worth celebrating. What happens around them deserves just as much attention.

Welcome to Edition 003.

Let’s get into it.

Nigeria finished seventh in Glasgow and as the highest-ranked African country. Look beyond the medal table, though, and one figure stands out: 95.8 per cent.

Almost every medal came from four disciplines.

We looked at which Glasgow performances carry genuine Olympic and Paralympic weight, why Commonwealth medal colour can be misleading, and what the results tell us about the athletes Nigeria should already be tracking towards Los Angeles.

Glasgow was a smaller Games, so the numbers need context. But they have given Nigeria something useful: an early picture of where its strongest LA28 prospects are.

Nigeria followed the shock defeat to Malawi with a hard-earned 1-0 win over Zambia and then put six past Egypt on Wednesday.

Six goals from six different scorers secured a quarter-final against Cameroon on Sunday

Nigeria eliminated hosts Ivory Coast 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 semi-final.

The Flying Eagles will play for the regional title on Sunday. According to the NFF, victory would also secure qualification for the 2027 U20 Africa Cup of Nations.

Super Eagles midfielder Raphael Onyedika has left Club Brugge for Eintracht Frankfurt after four seasons in Belgium.

Germany is the next step for the 25-year-old.

At Birmingham 2022, the only medal won by Nigerian men in athletics was bronze in the 4x100m relay.

Glasgow looked very different.

Samuel Ogazi, Ezekiel Nathaniel and Chukwuebuka Enekwechi won individual gold medals. Udodi Onwuzurike took 200m silver. Kanyinsola Ajayi reached the 100m podium.

But this story did not start in Glasgow.

From Ogazi’s Olympic final in Paris to Nathaniel, Ajayi and Enekwechi reaching World Championship finals, Nigerian men have been moving closer to the global podium for several seasons.

We went back through Nigeria’s Olympic and World Championship history, including the era built by Mary Onyali, Falilat Ogunkoya, Blessing Okagbare, Ese Brume and Tobi Amusan, to see whether the balance in Nigerian athletics is genuinely changing.

Nigeria’s U-18 men lost their opening AfroBasket game 95-68 to Egypt.

The scoreline was only part of the story.

FIBA reported that Nigeria had seven players available for the game.

Our interest is in how the team got there.

What happened during squad selection and eligibility screening? When did the NBBF know there was a problem? Could the necessary checks have been completed before the team travelled? What do FIBA’s rules allow once the final squad is confirmed?

An MRI eligibility issue should not automatically be described as age fraud. The proper story is how Nigeria arrived at one of Africa’s biggest youth basketball competitions unable to field anything close to a full roster.

Nigeria’s difficult WAFCON group stage ended with a 6-2 victory over Egypt and a place in the quarter-finals.

The Super Falcons now face Cameroon in Casablanca on Sunday. Victory takes the defending champions into the semi-finals and keeps their pursuit of an 11th African title alive.

Nigeria found six different scorers against Egypt. Cameroon should provide a much tougher test of how far the Falcons have recovered from that opening defeat to Malawi.

The Junior D’Tigress began AfroBasket with a 54-50 victory over Tunisia and face Cameroon on Friday before closing the group stage against Senegal.

Nigeria’s men have more recovering to do. They lost 95-68 to Egypt with only seven players available and now have games against Chad and hosts Côte d’Ivoire to rescue their campaign.

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Nigeria are one victory away from retaining the WAFU B U20 Championship and qualifying for the 2027 U20 Africa Cup of Nations.

Standing in their way are Burkina Faso, the same team that beat the Flying Eagles 2-0 in the group stage. Nigeria reached Sunday’s final by surviving a 2-2 draw with hosts Côte d’Ivoire and winning the resulting penalty shootout 4-3.

Nigeria begin their WAFU B U20 Championship title defence against Ghana on Monday.

The Flying Eagles will also face Togo and Burkina Faso in Group B. Qualification for the 2027 U20 Africa Cup of Nations is the main prize beyond the regional title.

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The inaugural NBA REC University Tournament begins at the University of Lagos on Friday. Eight men’s university teams will compete across two days, with the semi-finals and final scheduled for Saturday.

Then on Sunday, attention moves to Eko Atlantic as the Commonwealth Fencing Championships begin at Rugby School Nigeria. Competition runs until August 14, with U23 events opening the programme before the senior and veteran championships..

Jessica Oji has completed a remarkable few days.

The 19-year-old won silver on her senior international debut at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with 17.87m.

She then travelled to Oregon for the World Athletics U20 Championships, led qualifying with 17.56m and produced 18.08m in the final to become world U20 champion.

A week ago, Jessica Oji was not one of the biggest names in Nigerian sport. Now she is a Commonwealth silver medallist and world U20 champion.

On Sunday, the Commonwealth Fencing Championships begin in Lagos. Many of the Nigerian athletes competing will be unfamiliar to the wider public.

That is exactly why we should pay attention.

That is it for Edition 003.

We will be back next Friday.

Oluwatosin Oluwalowo
Editor-in-Chief
Bold Sports

boldsportsng.com

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