2022 Review: Amusan shines brightest and 10 shining moments in Nigerian sports

Despite the challenges and controversies that rocked the Nigerian sports scene in 2022, it was still a memorable year with some outstanding performances.

There were a couple of historic achievements worth noting in athletics, para-sports, and even football.

While there is optimism that 2023 could be a better year, PREMIUM TIMES, in its review of 2022, has selected these 10 remarkable feats in Nigerian sports.

Amusan shines brightest in 2022

Amusan’s exploits in 2022 were simply breathtaking, and they aided the fortunes of athletics in Nigeria.

It was one record after another, one award after another for the inspirational ‘Ijebu girl’ hurdler throughout the year.

Though the 12.12s World Record set in Oregon and the World title that followed were the obvious choices for Amusan’s best moments, there was more to the year for Tobi Express.

In Birmingham, Amusan retained her Commonwealth Games title with a new Games’ Record of 12.30s.

She also made it consecutive Diamond League Trophy wins with a new Meet Record of 12.29s, drawing the curtains on an incredible season that saw her win the Nigerian, African, Commonwealth, World, and Diamond League titles.

Though she missed out on winning the Global Award as the Best Female Athlete of the year, she was undisputedly Africa’s best, as confirmed by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA).

Best Commonwealth Games outing in Birmingham

Since her debut at the 1950 Commonwealth Games in Scotland, where Nigeria won a single silver medal, Nigeria has always strived for podium finishes in the multi-sport event designed for former British colonies.

Thus, Team Nigeria had a historic outing at the most recent edition, held in Birmingham, with its best medal placement ever.

The country won medals in a variety of sports, including powerlifting, as well as setting African and Commonwealth Games records in track and field.

Team Nigeria amassed an unprecedented 12 gold medals with nine silver and 14 bronze medals, making the outing in Birmingham the most productive in the country’s history.

Nigeria had previously won 11 gold medals in a single Commonwealth Games edition in 1994 in Victoria, Canada; 2010 in Delhi, India; and 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles emerge as WAFU Kings

Though Nigeria is a world power as far as age-grade competitions are concerned, the country was gradually losing the accolade with non-qualification and early exits from recent international tournaments.

However, the downward trend was reversed in 2022, with the new set of Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles teams assembled by Nduka Ugbade and Ladan Bosso, respectively.

To qualify for the African U-17 and U-20 Nations Cup, which serves as qualifiers for the World Cup for those categories, the Eaglets, and Flying Eagles did it in style; as they claimed the WAFU B regional titles.

The U20 boys conquered all in Niamey, Niger Republic in May while the U17 boys were equally triumphant in Cape Coast, Ghana in June.

Flamingos make history in Mumbai

In a manner similar to Morocco’s Atlas Lions achievement at Qatar 2022, Nigeria’s U17 girls won Africa’s first-ever FIFA World Cup bronze medal at the last U-17 tournament in India.

After narrowly missing out on making it to the final, the Flamingos still made history with a 3-2 penalty shootout win over Germany following a dramatic 3-3 draw in Mumbai.

Before winning Bronze in India, Nigeria and indeed Africa has never made it beyond the quarter-final in any of the FIFA U-17 tournaments for Women

Nigeria curling makes Olympic inroads

Nigeria is making inroads into winter sports, and the exciting journey is already bearing fruit. The Nigeria Curling Federation has already laid the groundwork for the 2024 Youth Winter Olympics.

Following their participation at the recently held World Junior B Curling championship in Finland, Team Nigeria emerged as the first African team to qualify for the curling event of the 2024 Youth Winter Olympics.

The country has qualified for both the Mixed and Mixed Doubles events.

Brume jumping to new heights

The ever-reliable long jumper is not resting on her oars just yet.

Brume has ensured podium finishes each time she has represented Nigeria at any international meet and she preserved that record and bettered it in 2022.

At the World Championships in Oregon, Brume moved up from being a bronze medalist to a silver medalist.

It is worth noting Brume won Nigeria’s last gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and it was that ‘golden jump’ that cemented the outing as the best outing for Team Nigeria.

Brume is just one of three Nigerian athletes to have won medals at the Olympics, World Indoors, and World (outdoor) championships.

Delta magic continues at the National Sports Festival

Delta State hosted and won the 21st edition of the National Sports Festival (NSF). Going by their antecedence, one would have rightly banked on Team Delta to win, but they achieved it in impressive fashion by hauling in an unprecedented number of medals.

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READ ALSO: 2022: Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan named Africa’s Best Female Athlete

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Out of the 36 states that took part in various games, Team Delta won 320 gold, 200 silver, and 128 bronze medals from the 648 available medals.

Ruthless Rivers United hit double records

We could term winning the Nigeria Professional Football League title ‘as ordinary’, but the manner in which the Garden City team emerged champions is worth a mention.

The Port-Harcourt club emerged as champions in July, making it their first title win since the official merger of Dolphins and Sharks in 2016. In clinching the title, they set a record by amassing 77 points from 38 games.

The 10-point gap over runners-up Plateau United is also unprecedented in NPFL history.

For their heroics, the Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike splashed N15 million each on the players and officials of the title-winning Rivers United.

Super Eagles’ record biggest win ever

Even though the Super Eagles largely suffered disappointment in 2022; fumbling at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and failing to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, they inadvertently set a scoring record in the year.

As inconsequential as it might look, the biggest victory ever recorded by the Super Eagles came in 2022 when Jose Peseiro led the team to a 10-0 win over Sao Tome and Principe in a qualifying match for the next AFCON.

Victor Osimhen scored four of the goals while a brace from Terem Moffi and a goal each from Moses Simon, Oghenekaro Etebo, Ademola Lookman, and Emmanuel Dennis completed the rout.

Royal outing for Bayelsa Queens in Morocco

After Rivers Angels’ unimpressive appearance in the maiden CAF Women’s Champions League, Bayelsa Queens returned for a better representation of the country in 2022.

The Prosperity Girls, as they are called, achieved a lot of firsts in the tournament hosted in Morocco.

They returned to Yenagoa with the bronze medal and the Fair Play award.

Bayelsa Queens defender, Glory Ubong Edet, also got into the CAF Women’s Champions League Team of the Tournament.