Falcons players jubilating aft
The year 2010 was one of a few highs and many lows for Nigerian sports with controversy-trailed elections but it was the women who outshone their men‘s counterparts during competitions, writes ’TANA AIYEJINA
Super Eagles
After struggling to book tickets to the 2010 Africa Nations Cup in Anglola and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa on the last day of the qualifiers, the Super Eagles put up poor displays at both tournaments. While they came third in Angola in January, they ended with a draw and two defeats to crash out of the group stage of the World Cup. The Eagles continued with their poor form in the 2012 Nations Cup qualifiers winning a game against Madagascar at home and losing 1-0 to Guinea in Conakry under interim coach Austin Eguavoen, who replaced Swede Lars Lagerback after the Mundial. The NFF made a landmark decision by appointing Samson Siasia as coach of the Eagles in November.
Flying Eagles/Eaglets
Coach John Obuh led a bulk of his 2009 U-17 World Cup silver-winning squad to land qualification for the African Youth Championship with the Flying Eagles. The U-20 side defeated Mauritius 4-1 on aggregate to qualify for the AYC.
In September, the Golden Eaglets – three-time world champions and 2009 finalists of the U-17 World Cup – surprisingly crashed out of this year‘s CAN U-17 Championship scheduled for Rwanda. Coached by Monday Odigie, the Eaglets crashed out after losing 3-1 on aggregate to Congo in the qualifiers.
Women‘s football
The Falconets shocked even themselves as they reached the final of the U-20 Women‘s World Cup in Germany. They lost 2-0 to the hosts but they etched their names in the history books as the first African side to reach the final of any FIFA organised women‘s event.
However, the Flamingos were not as lucky as they crashed out of the quarterfinal of the U-17 Women‘s World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Super Falcons won the African Women‘s Championship a record six times in South Africa in November after beating defending champions Equatorial Guinea, who stopped the Nigerians at home two years ago, 4-2 to reclaim their title.
NPL elections
The year 2010 can aptly be described as the year of controversial elections in Nigerian sports. It began with the Nigeria Premier League elections which were finally conducted in Abuja in May after several postponements due to court cases. The elections brought in former Enugu Rangers striker Davidson Owumi, who beat Victor Baribote by 13 votes to four, as Chairman of the league board. The NFF eventually nullified the chairmanship election in December sparking another row as Owumi refused to leave office.
NFF elections
The NFF elections, which ushered in Aminu Maigari and a new board, were held in controversial circumstances and in defiance to court orders in August, with the electoral committee claiming that it was not served the court orders. This prompted an outcry from the public with ex-internationals organising a protest match in Abuja calling for the postponement of the elections. However, Maigari and the board have held forth in office.
NOC elections
The Nigeria Olympic Committee elections finally held in September 2010 after controversies, accusations and counter accusations almost marred the polls. In fact, former Sports Minister Sani Ndanusa was ‘elected‘ twice before he eventually became the President of the country‘s Olympic body. The then incumbent NOC President Habu Gumel shunned an earlier election which Ndanusa won with a landslide victory before the International Olympic Committee ordered a rerun with the Nigeria Tennis Federation President winning again. All the officers elected in the earlier election on September 16, 2010 returned, with Gumel and the former PRO, Tony Nezianya, withdrawing from the polls.
Commonwealth Games
Nigeria finished ninth at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, in October with 35 medals 11 gold, 10 silver and 14 bronze. The country emerged as the third best African nation at the event behind fifth place South Africa and Kenya (sixth) but the performance was marred by a series of drugs cases. Oludamola Osayomi was stripped of her women‘s 100m gold after testing positive for the banned stimulant Methylhexaneamine while the country also lost silver medals in the women‘s 400m and women‘s 4x400m events after Folashade Abugan, who competed in both races, was disqualified for testing positive for testosterone prohormone.
Amos Adamu
It was also a sad tale for Nigeria as the country lost its seats in FIFA and CAF after Dr. Amos Adamu was banned for three years from football activities by the world football governing body. The former National Sports Commission Director-General was accused of asking for money in exchange for World Cup votes.
CAF awards
After a poor performance by Nigerian players at club and country levels, no Nigerian player was named on the shortlist for the African Footballer of the Year award in Egypt in December. However, impressive Eagles keeper Vincent Enyeama and Olympique Marseille‘s Taye Taiwo were named in the African XI, while Falcons striker Perpetua Nkwocha scooped the African Woman Player of the Year for the third time after a fantastic display at the 2010 AWC.
African Athletics Championships
Nigeria came second at the African Athletics Championships in August behind hosts Kenya with 18 medals- eight gold and five silver and bronze respectively. It was a great year for athlete Blessing Okagbare, who won the 100m and long jump events in Kenya. She had earlier won the Nigerian 100m title running a time of 11.04 seconds. In April she posted the world‘s fastest time in the women‘s 100m, clocking 11.10 seconds while running for University of Texas El Paso team at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in the USA.
WAFU Cup
Premier League side Sharks coached by John Obuh broke a 38-year-old jinx by winning the WAFU Cup, their first major trophy. Veteran striker Victor Ezeji‘s solitary strike sealed victory for the Port Harcourt side over Casa Sport of Senegal at a mini-tournament staged in Lome, Togo.
Samuel Peter
Heavyweight boxer Samuel Peter became the only boxer to be defeated by the Klitschko brothers –Vitali and Wladimir– after losing to Wladimir – the second time – in Germany in September in a bout for the IBF, IBO and WBO Heavyweight titles.
Deaths
The year 2010 also witnessed the death of some Nigerian sportsmen while on duty. Former Julius Berger striker Endurance Idahor collapsed during a league game for his Sudanese club Al-Merreikh and died on his way to hospital in March.
The country was again thrown into mourning following the death of Ocean Boys defender Emma Ogoli, who slumped on the pitch after 39 minutes during his team‘s NPL tie against Niger Tornadoes in December at the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa. But it was not the end as wrestler Christopher Ifeanyichukwu aka De Lion Man died after his fight was called off at the indoor sports hall of the National Stadium, Lagos. De Lion Man, who nearly collapsed before his fight was stopped, was reportedly not attended to by medical personnel when he stepped out of the ring.
Others
Nigeria emerged 29th out of 84 countries at the maiden Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in August. In basketball, Nigerian men and women‘s champions Kano Pillars and First Bank crashed out from the FIBA Africa club competitions in the quarterfinal and semifinal respectively while in football, Heartland exited the CAF Champions League in the group stage. Enyimba and Warri Wolves crashed out of the CAF Confederation Cup before the group stage. The National Sports Festival eventually failed to hold after suffering two postponements in the year.
Source:http://www.punchng.com/
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