Team Nigeria won four medals (2 Silver and 2 Bronze) on Day 8 of the 12th African Games currently taking place in Morocco, thereby increasing her medal haul to nine at the end of the day.
Nigeria and Egypt rekindled their rivalry in the Team event of Table Tennis, with both countries coming toe-to-toe in the final of both the men and women category.
Egypt proved their superiority in both categories, claiming GOLD in the process. After losing Game 1 and 2 in the men’s final, Nigeria fought back to reckoning by winning Game 3 and 4. However, Omar Assar defeated Segun Toriola 3-0 in the Singles match to hand his side the win in the final Game.
Despite winning Game 3 and 4, Team Nigeria’s trio of Funke Oshonaike, Cecilia Akpan and Bello Fatma couldn’t make it count in the fifth set,as they lost Game 5 to Egypt. In the end, they settled for Silver in the final of the women’s Team event of Table Tennis.
Ndu Vivian Chinwe scooped Bronze for Team Nigeria in the women’s -62kg of Taekwondo. After getting a bye in the preliminary round, and also beating Naomie Katoka of DR Congo, 21-2 in the quarter-finals, the fighter lost to Egypt’s Rewan Refaei.
Kolade Paul had completely obliterated Antonio Na Binhom of Guniea-Bisau 39-4 in the preliminary round of the men’s -74kg bout. He however succumbed 18-13 to Morocco’s Soufiane Elasbi in the last eight.
Chidinma Okoko also suffered the same fate as her compatriot as she lost in the quarter finals of the women’s -57kg to Yessouf Tekiath of Niger.
The country’s second medal of the day came in Rowing, as the duo of Toko Esther and Moses Michael combined to win Bronze in the Mixed 2x500m Single Sculls. They clocked 3:59.49 to defeat Kenya in Final 3.
The Flying Eagles continued their unbeaten streak in the footballing event after they played out a 2-2 draw against host Morocco in their last Group game of the campaign. Ibrahim Abubakar and Chinonso Emeka got the goals for Nigeria.
In Boxing, Imoleayo Adebayo got the better of Geko Kozaala of Uganda 4-1 in the preliminary rounds of the Men’s Super-Heavy (+91) category, while in Badminton, the Team Nigeria defeated Tunisia 5-0 in the Mixed Team event of their Group D match.
Nigeriea’s 3×3 Basketball team qualified for the semi-finals today after they Equatorial Guinea 17-14 in the third quarter final match of the event.
After winning Heat 2 of the preliminary stages in the men’s 100m Butterfly, Philip Adejumo clocked 54.20s to place 5th in the final, as Ryan Coetze of South Africa won GOLD in 53.70.
Timipame-ere Akiayefa placed 6th in the Heat 3 of the preliminary rounds of the women’s 50m Backstroke.
In the 4x100m Free Relay Mixed Final, Team Nigeria finished in 7th as they posted a time of 3:50.90. South Africa was ahead of the chasing pack, claiming GOLD in 3:31.24.
Finally, in Volleyball, Nigeria lost 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-15, 25-20) to Morocco in the men’s Group A preliminary round.
