NIGERIA will today file out alongside 71 other countries as the opening ceremonies of the 22nd Commonwealth Games, Birmingham 2022 are scheduled to take place at the Alexander Stadium from 7:00pm.
Team Nigeria will feature in nine sports at the Games – athletics, boxing, judo, wrestling, weightlifting, table tennis, para athletics, para powerlifting and para table tennis.
Nigeria first featured at the quadrennial Games in the 1950 edition held in Auckland, New Zealand with only a silver medal to show, as the country is going for its 15th appearance at the Games, which began at Hamilton, Canada, in 1930.
Team Nigeria finished in ninth place at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia with nine gold, nine silver and six bronze medals.
Nigeria’s best performance at the Games was the 11 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze medals feat at the 1994 edition held in Victoria, Canada where the country finished in fourth position.
Nigeria came close to equalling this feat at Glasgow 2014 with 11 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze medals. No doubt, many Nigerians would look forward to seeing the best of Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume as displayed at the World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022, which ended last Sunday this time at Birmingham 2022.
Amusan in a time of 12.12s won the 100m hurdles and set a new world record in the process, as she is set to defend the Commonwealth Games title she won four years ago; while Brume with a leap of 7.03m clinched a silver medal at Oregon 2022 in long jump.
Brume in an interview on arrival in Birmingham promised to offer her best saying winning the silver at the World Championships offers a morale booster that would enable her to grab the gold this time.
Recall ex-international long jumper, Yussuf Alli, was in April named Team Nigeria’s Coordinator for Birmingham 2022 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.