Idris Adesina
Six days into the 2017 World University Games in Taipei, Taiwan, Nigeria’s representatives have been absent in their events at the competition.
The Games began on August 19 and Nigeria are expected to feature athletes in four sports – judo, athletics, swimming and table tennis. The competition will end on August 30.
However, the country has not been represented in any event. Also, there was no official communication from the Nigerian Universities Games Association on the competition.
It is not the first time Nigeria will fail to present athletes in the competition as the country failed to appear at the last edition of the biennial competition in Gwangju, South Korea.
Our correspondent learnt that most of the country’s representatives are from the University of Port Harcourt, who won the 2017 NUGA Games in Makurdi.
It was learnt that the university officials said they could not fund the athletes to Taipei, hence the absence of the country’s athletes at the event.
Godwill Benson, Stellamaris Mba, Elizabeth Onyi, Oyewole Samuel, Charity Jatau and Michael Agbo, who are all students of UNIPORT, were all absent from the concluded judo event. Also, Abiola Samuel, who was scheduled to compete against Pakistan’s Moshin Ali in the quarterfinals of the men’s 60kg, was absent.
The country also did not show up when the tennis event started on Tuesday. The duo Aanu Aiyegbusi and Patrick Glory failed to appear in the women’s doubles and singles of the tennis event. The trio Aminat Abdulrafiu, Folashade Adedotun and Onyinyechi Mbah was walked over by Romania following their absence in the table tennis event. The three athletes, who were completed by Ajoke Ojomu, were also absent in the women’s singles.
In swimming, Sarah Fearnot and Duotimi Gaebe did not appear in the women’s 50m butterfly while Joseph Godbless and Evans Oduni also did not appear for the men’s 100m backstroke. In the men’s 50m butterfly, Ebi Alfred and Forsight Osamezu did not show up despite their names appearing in the start list of the events.
In athletics, which started on Wednesday, Nigeria’s 100m women’s champion, Aniekeme Alphonsus, and Stephanie Osuji were missing in the heat of the event while Harry Chukwudike and Mellitus Okechukwu were absent in the men’s 100m. Mmaduabuchi Ogbukwo also did not feature in the men’s 400m.
However, Ayodeji Akinkuowo of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, qualified for the second round of the men’s 400m. He is reportedly sponsored by his institution.
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