By Francis Ajuonuma
After an encouraging performance of Nigeria at international and global sports competitions in 2022, which climaxed with the Commonwealth Games outing which has now gone into the history book as the most successful for Team Nigeria, 2023 is looking more promising for the country’s athletes.
No doubt, 2023 will a very busy sporting year for Nigeria as it offers a series of competitions for the country’s athletes to showcase their talents against the best in the African continent and worldwide.
Some of the championships Nigeria will be challenging for laurels include the 9th FIFA Women’s World to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand from 20th July to 20th August, the African Games in Ghana in August 2023 World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary, and the 2023 Africa U-17 Men’s Cup of Nations in Algeria from April 8-30.
Others are the 2023 Africa U-20 Men’s Cup of Nations in Egypt from February 19 to March 11, the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago, the 2023 African Youth Games, and qualifiers for the next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Nigeria’s impressive outing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom, where she finished seventh in the overall medals table and the best African country with 12 gold, 9 silver, and 14 bronze medals and the world record-breaking performance of Tobi Amusan in the women’s 100m hurdles and Ese Brume long jump silver medal feat have placed Nigeria as the country to beat at the coming African Games in Accra, Ghana and medals contenders at 2023 World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary in August.
Also, Nigeria looks to be a serious title contender in both the U-17 and U-20 Men’s Africa Cup of Nations, going by their performances at the past editions.
However, playing in Group B of the 9th FIFA Women’s World Cup against formidable sides like the Republic of Ireland, Canada, and co-host Australia, Nigeria may not find things easy going of the Super Falcons’ dipping form in the recent time.
Although the Super Falcons qualified for the coming 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals, their performance at the 14th edition of the Africa Women Cup of Nations in Morocco which served as qualifiers for the Mundial was disappointing as they finished a distant fourth behind winners South Africa, Morocco, and Zambia.
Also at the last Aisha Buhari Cup in Lagos, the once dreaded Super Falcons were a shadow of themselves as they were well beaten by the Bayana Bayana of South Africa in the final of the six-nation tournament held at the Mobolaji Johnson Stadium, Onikan, Lagos. These falling performances by the Super Falcons have raised doubts about their chances at the World Cup.
Though some sports enthusiasts and administrators are optimistic about a good sporting year for Nigeria, they averred that it demands a great lot of hard work to achieve that, noting that Nigeria looks good to dominate at the African Games this time around.
While the Super Falcons have been written off of making any serious impact at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the U-17 and U-20 teams have been tipped to be among the teams that will qualify for their respective world cup finals.
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Four teams each from the U-17 and U-20 Africa championships will qualify for the World Cup finals in Peru and Indonesia respectively.
Team Nigeria has also been tipped to be very competitive this time around at both the African and Commonwealth Youth Games by some pundits.
Commenting on his expectation of Nigerian sports in 2023, National Chairman of Nigeria Football Supporters Club (NFSC), Reverend Sam Ikpea said, “This year I expect a very good outing for Nigeria at the African Games and the African Youth Games. My expectations are based on the encouraging performance of our athletes at the last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the World Athletics Championships in Eugene United States.
“Also our youth have become more competitive at African youth competitions as was witnessed at the 2021 World Junior Athletics Championships in Kenya. We should also not forget that Nigeria’s U-17 and U_20 men’s football teams will be competing at the Africa Cup of Nations this year, so I’m hopeful of a very good year for Nigerian sports.”
Collaborating Rev Ikpea’s submission, Sport Journalists Segun Olarenwaju said, “Yes, 2023 will witness a lot of international and global sporting championships and I see Nigeria doing well at the African Games in Ghana and the youth football championships but I have doubts about the Super Falcons chances at the World Cup, they may reach to the knockout stage but can’t get as far as the medal range.
“It is not an exaggeration to say the Super Falcons’ form has been on the drop in recent times as we saw them flattened at the Aisha Buhari Cup and the 2022 African Women’s Cup of Nations in Morocco”.
A sports enthusiast, Joel Vincent believes that 2023 will tell a better story on Nigerian Sports.
“I feel our impressive performance at the Commonwealth Games and the last Africa Athletics Championship in Mauritius will be a driving force for our athletes at the coming African competitions. Also, I fear that the recent disagreement between club owners and the Nigeria Professional Football League could linger in 2023,” he said.
