After 15 days of intensive competition, the curtain will fall on the 12th African Games tonight in Rabat.
Team Nigeria was conveniently occupying the second spot on the medals table at the close of events on Friday night.
Only two events are yet to be completed.
The position will certainly not change, but there would be additional medals for events not concluded.
Team Nigeria ended Day 15 of the ongoing African Games on a high as its medal haul increased to 126 (46 gold, 33 silver and 47 bronze medals) at the end of proceedings.
Egypt occupied first spot with 102 old medals while South Africa was third with 36 gold medals.
Sade Olatoye was Nigeria’s only individual gold medalist on the last day in athletics as she emerged victorious in the women’s Shot Put. Her first-round attempt of 16.61m was good enough for the gold. It was Olatoye’s second medal of the Games, having won bronze in the Hammer Throw.
In men’s Javelin, Nnamdi Chinecherem won bronze, throwing a distance of 73.24m.
On the track, Divine Oduduru failed to meet the expectations once more as the sprinter once again finished 2nd with a 20.54s clocking in the men’s 200m final.
Nigeria’s other representative, Ogho-Oghene Egwero, was 6th in 21.00s. Zambia’s Sidney Siame won the race with 20.34s.
Nigeria’s only athlete listed to run in the women’s 200m final, Rosemary Chukwuma, did not take part in her race.
In the women’s 400m Hurdles, Abasiono Akpan rallied her way back into contention as she was able to claim bronze for her efforts. She clocked 57.66s.
Nnamdi Chinecherem won bronze in men’s Javelin, throwing a distance of 73.24m. It is his first senior medal, having won gold at the African junior championship in April.
Nigeria women’s 4x400m made up of the quartet of Patience Okon-Geroge, Blessing Oladoye, Kemi Francis and Favour Ofili combined to run a time of 3:30.32s which fetched them gold.
For the men, they settled for bronze in 3:03.42s.
After her earlier heroics, Ayomide Bello showed how good she is in the C1 200m Women Final of Canoeing. She returned a time of 50.51s to win the event. She also teamed up with her compatriot Foloki to win the doubles in the event.
Nigeria on the last day of action in weightlifting got more medals. Obeyi Joseph was the first to clinch the medal as she settled for bronze in the women’s +87kg (245kg), Snatch (105kg) and Clean-Jerk (130kg) classification. In the same vein, Olawale Barde won bronze in the men’s 102kg (343kg), Snatch (158kg) and Clean-Jerk (185kg).
Also, Tijani Abdul secured bronze in the men’s +109kg (323kg), Snatch (180kg) and Clean-Jerk (143kg).
Wrestling
Finally, Nigeria scooped two gold and two silver medals in weightlifting. Daniel Amaas proved too strong for The Gambia’s Mbal Cumba as he edged him 3-1 to win gold in the men’s Freestyle 65kg Finals. Also, Emmanuel John pipped Sami Mustapha 3-1 to claim gold in the men’s Freestyle 74kg final.
Soso Tamurau lost to Egypt’s Hosam Meghany 3-1 to win the men’s Freestyle 97kg final, while Ebikewemimo Wilson was overpowered by Algeria’s Abdelhak Khebache in the men’s Freestyle 57kg final.
On a rather dissaponting note, Nigeria’s wait for a first gold medal since 1973 in the men’s football event continues as the Flying Eagles, who represented the country, lost to Burkina Faso 2-0 in the final.
Nigeria also finished second at the last edition of African Games in Congo Brazzaville albeit with 47 gold medals.
A flurry of gold medals in wrestling and others from athletics, boxing and even canoeing has seen Nigeria soar to the second spot on the overall medals table at the ongoing African Games in Morocco.
Nigeria, as of Thursday night, had gathered a total of 103 medals (40 gold, 28 silver and 35 bronze medals).
South Africa, who were previously occupying the second position, have now dropped to third as the curtain is set to drop on this edition of the African Games.
Nigeria’s biggest harvest of gold medals on Thursday came from wrestling where the country won all but one of the six gold medals on offer to reaffirm her supremacy in the sport on the continent.
Reigning African Games gold medalists, Blessing Oborududu (68kg), Odunayo Adekuoroye (57kg), Mercy Genesis (50kg) and Aminat Adeniyi (62kg), were all impressive as they retained their titles, as well as African Champion Blessing Onyebuchi (76kg), while 2018 African champion Bose Samuel (53kg) settled for silver after losing to Cameroon’s Essombe Joseph 2-4 in the final.
The five gold-medalists did not concede a point in their respective final bouts.
Unexpected feats
While the feat in wrestling was predictable and expected, Nigeria served the continent a pleasant surprise in a relatively unpopular sport in the country, Canoeing,
Nigeria on Thursday won two gold medals as Ayomide Emmanuel Bello won in the women’s 500m while she combined with Goodness Foloki to win another gold.
Another unexpected outcome happened in Rabat as a new face in Nigeria’s table tennis, Olajide Omotayo, emerged as the champion of Africa in the men’s singles event at the 2019 African Games.
Omotayo conquered three of the best players in Africa to be crowned the new champion of the continent.
From the quarterfinal stage, Omotayo worked his way to the final, beating two former champions – Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh and Nigeria’s Segun Toriola in the quarterfinal and semifinal stages.
The final produced the best of Africa with Aruna Quadri going up against Omotayo and the fans were treated to an exciting match.
Omotayo threw caution to the wind and raced to the lead with a 3-0 (13-11, 11-9, 16-14) but experienced Quadri cut the lead to 3-2 with 8-11, 13-15 wins in the fourth and fifth games.
The sixth match was a display of energy and skills and it was the younger Omotayo that scaled through with 12-10 win to claim the second gold medal for Nigeria in the table tennis event of the multi-sports fiesta.
Although the likes of Ese Brume also won gold for Nigeria in the women’s long jump and Shogbamu Bolanle in boxing, the icing on the cake was the Falconets’ gold medal in the women’s football event.
Bad for badminton
It was however not too good for Nigeria in badminton where only one gold medal was won in the four final matches the team members played on Thursday at the 12th African Games.
The only gold medal was won by Anuoluwapo Opeyori who beat Georges Julien Paul of Mauritius in the Men’s Singles.
Dorcas Adesokan lost the Women’s Singles to South Africa’s Johanita Scholtz.
While the pair of Deborah Ukeh and Dorcas Adesokan were beaten in the Women’s Doubles by Hadia Elsaid and Doha Toufic of Egypt.
Awaiting champions
Going into the last day of action before the closing ceremony, Egypt are home and dry in the first position on the overall medals table. They presently have a massive 79 gold 87 silver and 63 bronze medals.
It would also take a miracle for South Africa, who currently have eight gold medals less than Nigeria, to return to the second position as most of the games where they have medal prospects have been concluded.