Eucharia Njideka Iyiazi won her first ever Commonwealth Games gold medal in star fashion on Day 9 of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The Para Athlete set a Games record to land the gold medal on a day Team Nigeria witnessed a flow of medals.
Day 9 will go down in history as the day Team Nigeria had its most medals rush at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
A total of 14 medals were won by Team Nigeria across Para Table Tennis, Wrestling and Para Athletics.
Gold medals from Mercy Genesis, Eucharia Njideka Iyiazi were the biggest highlights of the day as the Para Athletes also fought back hard to win bronze in their event categories.
PARA TABLE TENNIS
Team Nigeria’s Nasiru Sule held down his own in the Men’s Classes 3-5 with wins in all the Group games and the semi finals to book a place in the finals.
Team England’s Jack Hunter-Spivey eventually overpowered him in the finals 3-1 and Sule had to settle for Silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
In the bronze medal match, Team Nigeria’s Isau Ogunkunle defeated Team India’s Raj Aravindan Alagar 3-0 (11-3,11-6,11-9) to seal a double podium for in Men’s Classes 3-5 for Team Nigeria
In the Women’s Classes 6-10, Team Nigeria’s Faith Obazuaye put her first game loss behind her to win her bronze medal match against Team England’s Felicity Pickard 3-1 (6-11,11-7,11-6,11-8)
Team Nigeria’s Ifechukwude Christiana Ikpeoyi lost to Team India’s Bhavina Hasmukhbhai Patel in the Women’s Classes 3-5 gold medal match to settle for Silver.
TABLE TENNIS
A disappointing end to a disappointing journey for Team Nigeria in Table Tennis at the 2022 Commonwealth Games as no member of the team in any event made it to the semi finals.
Fatima Bello and Edem Offiong loss in their Women’s Doubles Quarter final match to Team Australia’s Jee Minhyung & Lay Jiang Fang while Aruna Quadri’s 4-1 loss to Team England’s Paul Drinkhall signalled the end of the road for team Nigeria across all Table Tennis events.
BOXING
Team Nigeria’s Cynthia Ogunsemilore lost her semi final match 5-0 by points to Team Northern Ireland’s Amy Sara Broadhurst. Ogunsemilore won a bronze medal for her semi-final feat.
Ifeanyi Onyekwere also lost his Men’s Super-Heavyweight boxing semi final bout to Team India’s Sagar Sagar. Onyekwere also earned a bronze medal for Team Nigeria for making the semis
In the Women’s Middleweight category, Jacinta Umunnakwe got a bronze medal for Team Nigeria after she lost her semi final fight to Team Mozambique’s Rady Adosinda Gramane.
Elizabeth Osoba was the last member of Team Nigeria standing at the end of Day 9 and she becomes the only gold or silver medal hope in the boxing category. Osoba recorded a 4-1 win on points over Team Australia’s Tina Rahimi in the Women’s Featherweight category.
She faces Team Northern Ireland’s Michaela Walsh in the final.
ATHLETICS
Favour Ofili ran an immense 21.51s in the Women’s 200m race at the 2022 Commonwealth Games to win her first individual medal race outside Nigeria
It has been an impressive performance for the former junior athlete at the 2022 Games as she dominated the heats and semi finals only losing the gold medal to Team Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson Herah.
Udodi Onwuzuruike failed to replicate his dominant performance in the qualifying heats and semi finals as he finished 6th in the Men’s 200m finals.
Ezekiel Nathanel also finished 6th in the Men’s 400m hurdles .
In the 4X100M category, Team Nigeria qualified for the finals in both Men’s and Women’s categories.
The quartet of Joy Udo-Gabriel, Grace Nkwocha, Favour Ofili and Rosemary Chukwuma set another Under 43s to qualify for the Women’s finals while Seye Ogunlewe, Alaba Akintola, Favour Ashe and Raymond Ekevwo ran a 38.85s to book a place in the Men’s finals.
Team Nigeria’s Sade Olatoye narrowly missed a podium finish in the Women’s Hammer Throw at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The current African Champion’s season’s best of 66.80m was just 1m short of a podium finish.
PARA ATHLETICS
48-year-old Eucharia Njideka Iyiazi will undoubtedly go into the history books as one of Nigeria’s oldest gold medal winners in Commonwealth Games history.
THE Nigerian set a Games record of 10.03m to her first Commonwealth Gold medal in Women’s Para Shot Put F55-57 on Day 9 of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
It was a double podium finish for Team Nigeria in the Women’s Para Shot Put F55-57 as Ugochi Alam also set a season best of 9.30m to win bronze.
WRESTLING
Team Nigeria’s Miesinnei Mercy Genesis dominated the Women’s Freestyle 50kg event category at the 2022 Commonwealth Games from start to finish. She wrapped up proceedings with a gold medal match win over Team Canada’s Madison Parks. Genesis recorded a 3-1 VFA (Victory by Fall) to win gold in the final.
A 10-0 victory by technical superiority win over Team England’s Charlie Bowling for Team Nigeria’s Ogbonna John sealed a bronze medal for Nigeria in the Men’s 74kg freestyle wrestling event at the ongoing 2022 Commonwealth Games.
In the Women’s Freestyle 76kg event category, it was heartbreak for Team Nigeria’s Amuchechi Reuben as she lost the gold medal match 4-2 on points to Team Canada’s Justina Di Stasio.
Commonwealth Games debutant, 20-year-old Mercy Adekuoroye; also wrapped up her Birmingham 2022 Games journey with a bronze medal win in the Women’s freestyle 53kg wrestling event category
For Team Nigeria, a total of 30 medals sees them move up to 6th on the medals table at the end of Day 9 of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Team Nigeria is also the highest ranked African team on the medals table
Team Nigeria’s 6th on the overall medal table with 9 gold medals, 8 silver medal and 13 bronze medals with more medals expected at the end of Day 10.
Team Australia retains its spot at the top of the medals table with a total of 154 medals – 58 gold, 46 silver and 50 bronze
2022 Commonwealth games Action continues Day 10 as Team Nigeria jostles for medals in Boxing, Athletics and Para Table Tennis.
