TheCable

Sunday Dare, the minister of youth and sports development, has revealed why Nigeria prioritised just nine sports at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The Commonwealth Games are billed for July 28 to August 8.

Speaking on Sunday, Dare said Nigeria went through an exhaustive process to scientifically analyse and determine the nine sports that it would take part in at the games.

The minister added that the country will only be participating in sports that “we have our sportsmen and women amongst the top 10 or 15 in the world” due to “limited resources”.

“We are putting our best foot forward, so we decided that based on limited resources and very scientific analysis, we would want to leverage on the sports in which we have our sportsmen and women amongst the top 10 or 15 in the world,” Dare said.

“If in a particular sport we are 128th in the world and the goal of going to the Commonwealth Games is for podium performance and not rehearsals, we won’t go where we are ranked that low. We brought out all the statistics and crunched the numbers to pick the sports we are strong in, so we are going with a smaller team but to compete in a big way.”

Nigeria will compete in athletics, wrestling, boxing, judo, table tennis, weightlifting, para-athletics, para-powerlifting, and para-table tennis.

Those participating include Aruna Quadri, world no. 11 in table tennis; Omotayo Olajide, the reigning African games table tennis champion, and 2022 African table tennis cup finalists — Fatima Bello, Esther Oribamise, and Ajoke Ojomu.

In athletics, Oluwatobiloba Amusan, African 100m women’s hurdle record holder; Favour Ashe, the national 100m champion, Favour Ofili, Africa’s second-fastest women’s 200m sprinter, and Udodi Onwuzurike, the World U-20 200m champion, are also among the medal prospects.

In wrestling, Commonwealth champions, Blessing Oborududu, and Odunayo Adekuoroye will represent a huge threat to opponents in their different weight categories.