Global Sports’ Prizes Nigeria Will Eye To Win In 2024

Global Sports’ Prizes Nigeria Will Eye To Win In 2024

By Admin

NIGERIA won most of its sports prizes at the continental stage in 2023.

The sports include badminton, basketball, handball and scrabble.

However, the nation may seek more glory in 2024 as it heads for Cote d’Ivoire for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which kicks off on January 11 to launch its attempt for an award haul in the year.

In this report, The ICIR lists out major tournaments in which Nigeria may feature this year.

January 

AFCON 2023

The country’s senior men’s football team, Super Eagles, will begin their quest for their fourth African Cup of Nations (AFCON) title on January 14, when they face Equatorial Guinea in its first group match.

The last time the Super Eagles won the title was in 2013. 

On Thursday, January 4, the tournament’s organiser, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) raised the prize money for the competition by 40 per cent.

Youth Winter Games

Nigerian athletes will participate in the Youth Winter Games, billed to take place in Gangwon, South Korea, from January 19 to February. 1. 

The games allow more of Nigeria’s athletes to qualify for the upcoming Paris Games in August.

February 

2024 African Badminton Championships

Badminton is one of the sports that produced more prizes for Nigeria in 2023.

In 2024, Nigeria’s badminton para-athletes will participate in the Para-Badminton World Championship, slated for Thailand between February 20 and 25.

Also, Nigeria’s badminton players will want to express their dominance at the All-African Individual Championship organised by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in Egypt between February 16 and 18.

2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships

The 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships, holding in Busan, South Korea, from 16 to 25 February 2024, is another opportunity for Nigeria’s table tennis players to showcase their talents on the global stage.

Quarter-finalists of the 2024 World Championships will qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics starting in Paris in July.

March

2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships

Nigeria’s athletes Tobi Amusan, Rosemary Chukwuma, Favour Ofili, Ezekiel Nathaniel and Favour Ashe will represent the country at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships.

The 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships will be the 19th edition of the international indoor track and field competition organised by the World Athletics. 

The event is slated for March 1 to 3 at the Commonwealth Arena in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

2024 African Games

Team Nigeria will participate in sports at the 13th African Games, which are billed to be held in Ghana between March 8 and 23.

Of the 29 sports at the Accra Games, eight are Olympic-qualifying, fourteen are non-Olympics qualifying, and seven are demonstration events.

The Olympic-qualifying events include athletics, badminton, cycling, swimming, table tennis, tennis, triathlon and wrestling, while the seven demonstration events are scrabble, mixed martial arts, e-sports, pickleball, speedball, sambo and teqball.

The non-Olympics events are arm wrestling, basketball 3×3, beach volleyball, boxing, cricket, football, handball, judo, karate-do, rugby, taekwondo, volleyball and weightlifting.

The sports are both team and individual games.

July

WAFCON 2024

The country’s senior women’s football team, Super Falcons, will feature in the 15th edition of the Women Africa Cup of Nations in July, which is taking place in Morocco.

Nigeria has won the title eleven times.

Olympic 2024 

Nigeria is one of the participating countries at the Olympics scheduled to be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024, in France, with Paris as the central host city and 16 other cities.

Since its debut in Helsinki in 1952, the country’s athletes have appeared in every Olympic Games edition, except for Montreal 1976, as part of the Congo-led boycott.

The Atlanta ’96 was Nigeria’s most successful outing at the Olympics when the country won two golds in athletics and football.

It also claimed silver in women’s 4×400 metres relay and three bronzes: two in athletics and one in boxing.

Ahead of this year’s edition, 11 athletes from five sports; athletics, boxing, canoeing, cycling and wrestling have qualified to represent the country.

Credit - icirnigeria.org