2022 Commonwealth Games Day 5 Wrap: Medals galore for Team Nigeria in Birmingham

Team Nigeria claimed four medals in their 2022 Commonwealth Games Day 5 events to take their tally at the Games to eight, sending them to 10th in the standings.

First, the men’s table tennis team fell to their English counterparts 3-0 in the bronze medal match, ending their quest for a medal at the Games. The trio of Aruna Quadri, Olajide Omotayo and Bode Abiodun will now focus on their respective singles and doubles events.

Nigeria’s fastest man Favour Ashe opened the 100m for Team Nigeria as he won Heat 1 in a time of 10.12s to qualify for the semifinals. After him, Raymond Ekevwo put on a similar performance to win Heat 4 in 10.14s and book his place in the semifinals. Godson Brume finished third in Heat 5 with a time of 10.36s, narrowly qualifying for the semifinals.

In the women’s 100m, the trio of Grace Nwokocha, Joy Udo-Gabriel and Rosemary Chukwuma booked their places in the semifinals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Day 5, with Nwokocha winning her heat in 10.99s, only the second time in her career that she has gone sub-11s. Udo-Gabriel finished third in Heat 5 with a time of 11.43s and Chukwuma won Heat 4 with a time of 11.02s.

Team Nigeria’s women continued their dominance in weightlifting as Taiwo Laidi picked up the silver medal in the women’s 76kg category, setting a junior Commonwealth record in the process. She lifted a combined weight of 216kg from the snatch and clean & jerk events to finish in second place. Also, Mary Taiwo Osijo claimed bronze in the women’s 87kg category with a total lift of 225kg from all her attempts.

In the men’s light Middleweight boxing event, AbdulAfeez Osoba lost 5-0 to Welsh boxer Garan Croft in their Round of 16 bout, ending the Nigerian’s hopes of a medal at the event.

Anabolic Orobosa qualified for the finals of the women’s shotput event after hurling her projectile to a distance of 16.27m to finish fifth in the qualification rounds.

National 400m Hurdles record holder Nathaniel Ezekiel qualified for the finals of the event after finishing second in Heat 1 with a time of 50.38s.

There was still time for history to be made at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Day 5 events as Chioma Onyekwere won Nigeria her first-ever Commonwealth Games gold medal in discus. Onyekwere won the event with a throw of 61.70m, a season best mark for her. In the same event, her compatriot Obiageri Amaechi claimed bronze with a throw of 56.99m.