SPORTS

SITE AWARDS
JOBS IN NIGERIA & BEYOND
NIGERIAN ORGANIZATIONS
SEND FREE WEBCARD
IMMIGRATION
ONLINE AFFILIATES
LINK TO SITE
HOMEWORK HELP
USEFUL UTILITIES
THE LOVE ZONE
OTHER LINKS ON NIGERIA
LINK EXCHANGES
SCAM INFORMATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRO
THE GEOGRAPHY

LOCATION

MAP

STATES, CAPITALS, & LINKS

LAND & CLIMATE

RIVERS

TOWNS & CITIES
PATRIOTIC STUFF

FLAG

COAT OF ARMS

NATIONAL ANTHEM

NATIONAL PLEDGE

MOTTO
PEOPLES

POPULATION

RELIGION
     -CHRISTIANITY
     -ISLAM
     -TRADITIONAL
     -INFLUENCE

ETHNIC GROUPS
     -YORUBA
     -IBO (or IGBO)
     -HAUSA (& FULANI)
     -OTHERS
CULTURES & CUSTOMS
LANGUAGES & INTRO

LANGUAGES
     -YORUBA ALPHABET
        & LANGUAGE
     -IBO ALPHABET & LANGUAGE
     -HAUSA ALPHABET
        & LANGUAGE
     -LINKS TO OTHERS

LANGUAGE RESOURCES
     -GENERAL RESOURCES
     -YORUBA RESOURCES
     -IBO RESOURCES
     -HAUSA RESOURCES
     -OTHERS
MORE ON LANGUAGES
     -NUMBERS
     -PEOPLE
     -BODY PARTS
     -HOUSE PARTS
     -PLACES
     -OTHER WORDS
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGES
NAMES & ORIGINS

YORUBA NAMES
     -THE NAMING CEREMONY
     -COMMON PARTS
     -CIRCUMSTANTIAL NAMES

IGBO NAMES

HAUSA NAMES

LINKS ON NAMES
MARRIAGE & FAMILY

THE WEDDING

MARRIAGE TIDBITS

FAMILY TIDBITS

OTHER SOURCES
FOODS AND DRINKS

INTRO

SOME MEALS

SOME DRINKS
RECIPES

RECIPES

LINKS
FOOD: BUYING & DINING

BUYING (ingredients and food)

DINING (restaurants)
HEALTHCARE

TRADITIONAL HEALTH

CURRENT HEALTH POLICY

INFO FOR TRAVELERS

CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE

SPORTS PLAYED
SPORTS HISTORY
RECORDS
SPORTS ASSOCIATIONS
SITES ON SPORTS

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SPORTS PLAYED

Some of the sports that are played are (listed alphabetically):

athletics (track and field)
badminton
baseball
basketball
boxing
chess
cricket
cycling
football (called soccer in the United States and in some other places). This is by far the most popular sport in Nigeria.
gymnastics
golf
handball
hockey
judo
lawn tennis
rowing
shooting
squash rackets
swimming
table tennis (called ping-pong in some other places)
taekwondo
volleyball
weight-lifting
wrestling

A sport not being listed above doesn't mean it is not played. These are just the ones I have confirmed from one source or another that are being played.

For Olympics, Nigeria is participating in soccer (of course), judo, wrestling, boxing, weightlifting, tennis, long jump, triple jump, table-tennis and the sprints.

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SPORTS HISTORY

Nigerian sports, though always exercised, was noted first in the 1950s. Nigeria had it's first appearance in the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952, and it's first victory in 1954, when Emmanuel Ifeanjuna won a gold medal in the high jump at the Commonwealth games in Cardiff.

In 1962, the Nationals Sports Council was set up, and in 1971, the National Sports Commission, and they had the following responsibilities (stated exactly as is):

To coordinate and integrate efforts to raise the standard of performance in sports in Nigeria.
To encourage the development, organization and participation of sports in Nigeria.
To make any arrangements on behalf of the States' Sports Councils for Competitions, technical assistance, recruitment of coaches and for any other matters as the Commission sees fit.
To promote physical fitness and general well-being of all persons in Nigeria

In terms of football/soccer, the Nigerian Football Federation was created in 1945. It was the first year that a competition was organized bringing together clubs from Lagos, Port Harcourt and Calabar. The championship was also renamed the Challenge Cup replacing the Governor's Cup as it had been known under their British colonizers. It was only several years later that the Challenge Cup became a national trophy when other top clubs from different provinces were invited to play. However, the clubs had to wait till 1990 for the professional league to be introduced.

Nigeria emerged on the international football/soccer scene in 1960 when it first entered the World Cup, but failed to qualify for the finals. It eventually qualified for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. The Nigerian National League began in 1972 when five teams entered the league. This grew to 12 teams by 1978. The victories Nigeria has won are stated in the records section below.

Locally within Nigeria, there are many sporting clubs that one can join.

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RECORDS

Here are the records I've been able to obtain on Nigeria's involvement in sports (outside of Nigeria of course), sorted chronologically. Of course, if you can think of something that I am missing let me know. In the meantime, I want to thank DID for helping provide some of this information.

Year	Records by Nigerians
1954	Emmanuel Ifeanjuna won a gold medal in the high jump at the Commonwealth games in Cardiff.
1962	The first All African games was held and Nigeria's Karimu Young won a gold medal in the 51 kg class (in Cairo).
1964	Nojim Maiyegun won a bronze medal in the 71 kg class in the Olympics (in Tokyo Japan)
1966	A. Andeh, LIGHTWEIGHT, Commonwealth games, Boxing Eddie Ndukwu, BANTAMWEIGHT, Commonwealth games, Boxing Also in boxing, Fatai Ayinla each won a gold medal (in Lagos)
1968	In boxing, Lako (last name not mentioned) won a gold medal in the 54 kg class.
1970	A. Adeyemi, LIGHTWEIGHT, Commonwealth games, Boxing Fatai Ayinla, LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT, Commonwealth games, Boxing
1972	Isaac Ikhouria won a bronze medal in the 81 kg class in the Olympics (in Munich Germany)
1973	In boxing, Obisia Nwakpa, Isaac Ikhouria and Fatai Ayinla won gold medals each in boxing (in Lagos)
1974	Obisia Nwakpa, LIGHT-WELTERWEIGHT, Commonwealth games, Boxing Eddie Ndukwu, FEATHERWEIGHT, Commonwealth games, Boxing In boxing, Eddie Ndukwu and Isaac Ikhouria won gold medals each (in Kampala) In boxing, the first world's championship was held and Fatai Ayinla won a bronze medal in the +91kg (in Havana Cuba)
1976	Shooting Stars won the tournament for the CAF nations.
1977	Enugu Rangers won the tournament for the CAF nations.
1978	Abdulkarim Haruna (60 kg) and Ishiaku Adamu (81 kg) won gold medals each (in Algiers). Davidson Andeh won a gold medal in the 60 kg class (in worlds championship held in Belgrade)
1980	African Cup of Nations Championship
1982	J. Orewa, BANTAMWEIGHT, Commonwealth games, Boxing P. Konyegwachie, FEATHERWEIGHT, Commonwealth games, Boxing Roland Omoruyi won a bronze medal in the 67 kg class in the worlds championship (in Munich) Nigeria won the 4 x 100 meter relay final in the Commonwealth games.
1984	Nigeria won four silver medals in the Olympics through featherweight boxer Peter Konyegwachie (in Los Angeles)
1985	Champions of World Championship for U-16/U-17 Teams 3rd place Palmares Youth's World Cup (sub 20)
1989	2nd place Palmares Youth's World Cup (sub 20)
1990	David Defiagbon, WELTERWEIGHT, Commonwealth games, Boxing (gold medal) Sabo Mohammed, BANTAMWEIGHT, Commonwealth games, Boxing (gold medal) Also in boxing, Kevin Onwuka won a bronze medal (in Auckland New Zealand) Moses James won a bronze medal in the 63.5 kg class (in Sydney)
1991	In boxing, Moses James (63.5 kg), Jacklord Jacobs (81 kg), David Izonritei (91 kg) and Richard Igbineghu (+91kg) won gold medals each including a silver medal by Tajudeen Sabitu(67kg) and a bronze medal by David Defiagbon(71kg) (in Cairo) Nigeria finished 10th in the Women's World cup.
1992	Nigeria won the 4x100 men's relay in Barcelona. Nigeria won two silver medals in boxing in the Olympics through David Izonritei (91 kg) and Richard Igbineghu (+91kg) (in Barcelona)
1993	Champions of World Championship for U-16/U-17 Teams Jacklord Jacobs won a silver medal in the 81 kg class (in Tempere Finland)
1994	1st World Cup appearance African Cup of Nations Championship (again) In boxing, Duncan Dokiwari won a gold medal in the +91kg class,Rasmus Ojemaye(75kg) and Eromosele Albert(67kg) won silver medals each (in Victoria Canada)
1995	Julius Berger won the Cup Winners'Cup In boxing, Duncan Dokiwari(+91kg) won a gold medal, Kehinde Aweda(54kg) won a silver medal, Daniel Attah(57kg) and Friday Ahunanya(91kg) won a bronze medal each (in Harare) Nigeria finished 11th in the Women's World cup.
1996	Nigeria won the Olympic Gold in Atlanta USA In boxing, Duncan Dokiwari (+91kg) won a bronze medal (in Atlanta USA)
1998	Nigeria had it's 2nd World Cup appearance (made it to the 1/8 Finals) Nigeria won the 11th African Athletics Championship in Dakar (Nigeria collected 23 medals) Nigeria finished 1st at the 1998 African Women's Soccer Championship
1999	In boxing, Segun Ajose won a gold medal, Jegbefu Albert and Eromosele Albert won silver medals each (in South Africa)
2000	Olympic 2000 information from AllAfrica.com

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SPORTS ASSOCIATIONS

The Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports guides a number of sports associations with administrative backup. Each association is responsible for hosting and participating in all international sports competitions. Some of the sports associations in Nigeria are as follows:

AAAN	Amateur Athletic Association of Nigeria
AAVA	Amateur Volleyball Association of Nigeria
ASAN	Amateur Swimming of Nigeria
GAN	Gymnastic Association of Nigeria
HAN	Handball Association of Nigeria
NABA	Nigeria Amateur Boxing Association
NABBA	Nigeria Amateur Basketball Association
NACA	Nigeria Amateur Cycling Assocation
NAJA	Nigeria Amateur Judo Association
NASA	Nigeria Amateur Shooting Association
NAWA	Nigeria Amateur Wrestling Association
NCA	Nigeria Cricket Association
NCF	Nigeria Chess Federation
NFA	Nigeria Football Association
NGA	Nigeria Golf Association
NHA	Nigeria Hockey Associations
NLTA	Nigeria Lawn Tennis Association
NSAD?	Nigeria Sports Association for the Disabled
NTTA	Nigeria Table Tennis Association
SMAN	Sports Medical Association of Nigeria
SPAN	Sports Psychology Association of Nigeria
WAAN	Weight Lifting Amateur Association of Nigeria

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SITES ON SPORTS

CyberEagles
Nigeria Sports Associations
Nigerian Sports Online: Great site for ALL Nigerian sports, as well as the ability to sign up for their newsletter.
Afrikontact: Sports.
LinkServe which has sections on
NigeriaWeb Guide to Sports: Gives links to Nigerian Sports.
RSSSF Archives of Sporting Events
Yahoo Guide to Nigerian Sports: Gives links to Nigerian Sports.
Afrocentrix: Sports
London Nigerians Cricket Club
Nigeria '99 (Soccer World Youth Championship - April 1999)
Women's World Cup 1999 (Nigeria)
1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
The Boxing-wise Website
Africa House Sport
InternetSoccer.com
Africa Peace Cup
Dancing Brave

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