Featured, Sports
By BenPrince Ezeh
IT was mixed blessings for sports lovers in Nigeria in 2019 as they rejoiced over some victorious events and swallowed the bitter pills of defeat from the performance of the country’s men and women.
For the first time, the African Cup of Nation, AFCON, which was hosted by Egypt moved its calendar to June instead of January to accommodate players playing in Europe.
The tournament saw the Super Eagles defeat the Carthaginian Eagles of Tunisia at the third place playoff. Favourites Egypt were stunned by South African Thembinkosi Lorch in the 85th minute to deny the Pharaohs a place in the quarter finals.
The continental tournament ended with The Desert Foxes of Algeria defeating Senegal for their second AFCON trophy, the first was when Algeria hosted and won the championship in 1990. Odion Ighalo won the Golden boot award with six goals while Ismael Bennacer of Algeria claimed the player of the tournament.
In June, the champion of the Nigerian Professional Football League, NPFL, was decided by a super six. Enyimba International of Aba came first with a total of 13 points while Kano Pillars and Rangers International, finished second and third respectively. This was the eight time that Enyimba FC emerged the champion of the national league.
In July, the FIFA Women World Cup was held in France and it was marked the biggest female football ever hosted. More than 1.12 billion people watched the game as the US team defeated the European Champions Netherland to win a record fourth World Cup.
Megan Rapinoe, who finished the tournament as top scorer with seven goals, won the player of the tournament, female FIFA player of the year and Ballon D’Or respectively. The Falcons were eliminated in the Round of 16 by the host nation, France.
In August, the D’Tigers were off to China for the Federation of International Basketball Association, FIBA World Cup, which would see them qualify for Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Spain defeated Argentina to clinch their second gold medal, but the moment of joy came when Ike Diogu lead the team to defeat China to grab the Olympic ticket. This was followed suit by D’Tigress joining the male counterpart in qualifying for the biggest sporting showpiece in Tokyo. This is the first time our male and female basketball teams have qualifying for the Olympics.
Like the Basketball teams, the football teams failed to make it to Tokyo for the first time after being held to a goalless draw by South Africa for the men and playing out a one all draw with Ivory Coast in Lagos for the women.
The new sports minister, Sunday Dare, twitter that before IAAF World Athletics Championships, which was held in Doha kicked off, “Doha- the Prestigious World Athletics Championships kicked off today in Doha. Nigeria is represented there by 25 talented athletes. The outcome from Doha will largely signpost our chances at the 2020 Olympics. I wish Team Nigeria the very best”. It was not all roses as Blessing Okagbare and Divine Oduduru were disqualified and the Nigerian contingent returned home with just a medal.
The same year saw the age grade football teams fail to win a single trophy for the first time in the country’s football history and the respective managers/coaches were sacked.
Finally in December, Lionel Messi, a five-time Ballon D’Or winner clinched his sixth to make it double in 2019 after winning the FIFA player of the year back in September.
– Dec. 30, 2019 @ 10:12 GMT |
Tags: Mixed blessings for Nigerian sports lovers in 2019
