AS Nigeria marks another Independence Anniversary, Deputy Sports Editor, Ganiyu Salman, in this piece, examines how the nation has fared in sports in the last 52 years.THE exploits of Nigeria in the world of sports began in 1957, August 27 to be precise when Hogan Bassey decisioned Frenchman, Cherif Hermia to win the world featherweight boxing title in Paris.Perhaps, that would have been the first time Nigeria's name was heared globally through sports, afterall.In August 1949, a group of 18 young Nigerian players captained by Richard Ewa Henshaw alongside Teslim Thunder Balogun, Sam Ibiam, Isaac Akioye, Dan Anyiam, and a host of others had undergone a tour of the United Kingdom and in the process made history by playing barefooted to defeat an English side, Marine Crosby 5-2. The UK Tourists as fondly called were later provided soccer boots by their hosts to play subsequent matches during the tour. Another Nigerian boxer, Dick Tiger took the world by storm in 1963 when he beat Gene Fullmer at the Liberty Stadium now Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan to become a world champion.A year later, Nojeem Maiyegun, gave Nigeria her first Olympic medal at Tokyo '64 also through boxing when he got the bronze in the light middleweight class.The medal came after Nigeria's debut at the Olympic Games held in Helsinki in 1952 though, Emmanuel Ifeajuna, had earlier clinched Nigeria's first medal at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in high jump.Isaac Ikhuoria, who later coached the national boxing team also won a bronze medal in the light heavyweight at Munich '72 Olympics, which served as Nigeria's second medal at the Olympics.The rising profile of Nigeria on the continent was acknowledged when the nation played host to the 2nd All Africa Games in 1973 at the newly-built National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.Hosting the All Africa Games gave many young Nigerians then encouragement to embrace sports as a means of livelihood, coupled with the construction of stadia across the country. Nigeria also played host to the 8th All Africa Games in 2003 and for the first time emerged tops at the quadrennial Games at the expense of South Africa which claimed most of her medals through swimming.it is worrisome to note that Nigeria's fortune in boxing has continued to nosedive as no boxer has been able to win a gold medal on the continent since COJA 2003. At the last All Africa Games, Maputo 2011, three Nigerian boxers got to the final and they lost to their respective opponents.At Olympics boxing, since Atlanta '96 when Duncan Dokiwari won a bronze medal, no Nigerian boxer has moved near the medal zone. The worst outing was recorded at Beijing 2008 when all the four boxers paraded by Nigeria lost in their first bouts respectively. Also, at the recently-concluded London 2012 Olympics, only two boxers, Muideen Akanji and Lukman Lawal qualified for the Games but the duo did not go beyond the first round as well.Edith Agu-Ogoke goes down memory lane as the first woman to represent Nigeria in women's boxing at London 2012 Olympics. She won her first bout before losing to a Russian opponent in the quarter-final.Sadly, Nigeria missed two other African slots to Tunisia during the Olympics qualifiers in China as Oladeji Oluwatoyin and Kehinde Obareh lost in the 52kg and 60kg respectively. Pundits were shocked as to the qualification of two Tunisian boxers in spite of Nigeria's age-long dominance in the sport at least on the continent.Football became a dominant sport in the country following the Green Eagles victory at the 1980 Nations Cup.The feat was well celebrated by the Shehu Shagari government, as each member of the team led by Christian Chukwu got a bungalow at Festac Town, a car and national honour, Member of the Order of the Niger (MON).It took the senior national team, the Super Eagles 14 years to rule Africa again in Tunisia with a generation of players who incidentally transformed Nigerian football.Nigeria also qualified for the World Cup for the first time while the nation was rated the fifth best team in the world after the US '94 World cup.Boxing again gave Nigeria her first silver medal at the Olympics, and this came through the effort of Peter Konyegwachie. The talented boxer at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics got to the final of the featherweight class before his defeat. His feat was equalled at Barcelona '92 Olympics by David Izonritei (Men's heavyweight) and Richard Igbineghu in the Men's super heavyweight class.Chioma Ajunwa eventually won the Olympic gold for Nigeria at Atlanta '96 in long jump while Nwankwo Kanu also led the Dream Team to win the soccer event at the Games. Nigeria thus became the first African country to win the Olympic soccer gold.The exploits of Mary Onyali, Falilat Ogunkoya, Innocent Egbunike, Enefiok Udo-Obong, the late Sunday Bada, Damola Osayomi, Ruth Ogbeifo, who lost the Olympic gold at Sydney 2000 in Weightlifting Women's 75kg due to her body weight and lately, Blessing Okagbare and Chika Chukwumerije, among others would remain fresh in the memory of many Nigerians.Nigeria scored another first through Samuel Peter, who became the first African to win the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight crown in 2008.Olusoji Fasuba also dazzled the world in athletics in 2008 as he became the first African to win the 60metres race at the 12th IAAF World Indoor championship in Valencia, Spain with a time of 5.51secs.At the junior level, Nigeria's Golden Eaglets had on three occasions claimed the FIFA U-17 World cups, 1985, 1993 and 2007 while the Flying Eagles lost in the FIFA U-20 World Cup finals in 1989 and 2005.The Dream Team made another attempt to win the gold at Beijing 2008 only to lose to the Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina.Nigeria at the recently-concluded London 2012 Paralympics finished with six gold, five silver and two bronze medals, a result which was well celebrated as President Goodluck Jonathan, who rewarded the gold medallists with MON awards aside the cash incentives given to all members of the contingent.Though, Nigeria placed third among the African countries at the Games but emerged the first in powerlifting among the 164 nations on parade.It is also worrisome to note that the dominance of the Super Falcons did not go beyond Africa despite winning six of the seven African Women championship (AWC) titles and the All Africa Games gold in 2007. The Falcons have not gone beyond quarter-final at the global level and this remains a challenge to the football authorities in the land. The Falconets raised the stake in 2010 when they lost in the final of the FIFA Women's U-20 World Cup.Stakeholders are worried that the nation is retrogressing in sports as manifested in the poor outings of our athletes in recent times.The performance of Team Nigeria at London 2012 Olympics became a source of embarrassment to the entire nation and this could be traced largely to poor funding as the nation is blessed with abundant talents."The sports ministry is not like any other ministry that must wait for the annual budget to be passed before it can get fund to execute its programmes, there must be extra-budgetary allocation for sports to be run effectively. I believe the National Sports Commission should not go through the Federal Executive Council or the National Assembly to get fund to run sports."Sports should be run by the presidency because that was the system during our time. Fund was always forthcoming then. sports is a different sector. To embark on long-term plan, funds must always be made available. Today in Nigeria, fund is not released until two months to a major championship and what do you expect the athletes to do'"You cannot produce an Olympic medallist within one or two months. Medals are not bought. I knew what the NSC passed through when various sports federations were struggling to qualify for the Olympics. So the adminstrators should not be blamed, our athletes should not to be blamed but we should blame the system," Olympian and former international hurdler, Henry Amike, submits in Lagos while lamenting Team Nigeria's performance in recent time.Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi on Team Nigeria's debacle at London 2012 said that a scientific approach is required to address the downward trend in Nigerian sports, stressing that the dismal performance was a call to rebuild."I'm disappointed like any other Nigerian. We have to ensure that a good system is put in place and this is why we have embarked on a fact finding mission to ensure that the National Institute for Sports (NIS) is well-equipped to provide our sportsmen and women as well as their handlers the wherewithal to give the nation the desired results."Funding of sports is also vital and if you look at what other countries spend on sports compared to Nigeria, there is a huge difference. Funding is a reflection of the economic development of a nation and the amount of priority given to the sports sector. We are not investing enough in sports development in this country and another thing is that how well have we managed the past investments'"There must be a clear projection of medals at the Olympics and how to win those medals and this is where intensive planning with preparation comes in coupled with a good system in place. God is for everybody, we have to stop passing buck and face the reality that there is no shortcut to success," Abdullahi declares.
Click here to read full news..
