2023: Top Eight Nigeria’s Achievements In Sports

The outgoing 2023 has been a very positive year for Nigeria in terms of sports even though the country recorded a couple of failures in some aspects.

For instance, Nigeria failed to feature in the 2023 under-17 World Cup despite being the most successful country in the tournament.

Amid such a disappointing development, Nigerian sports enthusiasts celebrated a series of achievements, some of which are highlighted below:

1. Nigeria Shine At CAF Awards:

It was a winning spree for Nigeria at the 2023 CAF awards, which was hosted in Morocco earlier this month. In the award ceremony, Nigerians went home with the CAF men’s (Victor Osimhen) and women’s (Asisat Oshoala) player of the year awards.

Also, the Super Falcons won the national team of the year, and the team’s goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie, won the women’s goalkeeper of the year.

2. Nigeria Qualify For Continental Football Tournaments With Ease

Unlike the days of old, the Super Eagles of Nigeria qualified for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) without Nigerian fans needing calculators to carry out any permutations.

Also, the Super Falcons cruise through to the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup Of Nations (WAFCON) with ease.

3. Tobi Amusan ended in glory

After starting the year with wins, Tobi Amusan was hit by a drug abuse scandal that almost ended her track and field career.

After she was banned for more than one month for allegedly failing a drug test and failing to defend her world title at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Amusan ended the year with a Diamond League title in 12.33secs.

4. D’Tigress and Rena Wakama conquer Africa

Rena Wakama led the D’Tigress, the Nigeria national women’s basketball team to win the 2023 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket tournament barely a month after she was appointed the coach of the team. That made her the first female coach to record such a feat.

5. Anthony Joshua recorded a successful 2023

Nigerian-born British boxer Anthony Joshua went through 2023 without recording a defeat even though he was involved in three heavyweight boxing bouts.

The former IBF, WBA, and WBO heavyweight champion beat Jermaine Franklin on points, knockout Robert Helenius, and ended the year with a win over Otto Wallin.

6. Quadri Aruna continues with his continental dominance

The highest-ranked table tennis player in Africa, Quadri Aruna, continues to dominate the game on the continent as he successfully defended his ITTF Africa Senior Championships title, defeating Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh 4-0 (11-2, 12-10, 11-6, 11-6) in the men’s singles final in Tunisia.

7. Nigeria Rising in Cricket

2023 was a good year for Nigeria in the Cricket world, especially within Africa. The women’s senior national team, the Female Yellow Greens, won the NCF T20i tournament in Lagos, as did their male counterparts. The female team also won the maiden West Africa Trophy with a 100 percent record in Lagos.

To cap it up, Nigeria was selected as one of the countries to host the ICC 2023 Cricket World Cup Trophy, which toured Lagos and Abuja for two days.

8. The Super Falcons kept the world talking

The Super Falcons of Nigeria stunned the world in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Despite the controversy of non-payment of bonuses, the Super Falcons went on to beat the co-hosts Australia and drew with reigning Olympics champions, Canada, and Northern Ireland.

Unfortunately, they were knocked out of the tournament by England via penalties in the round of 16 stage of the competition.