By JOSEPH ODOEKWU, Accra
Team Nigeria will be looking forward to winning its first gold after failing to do so in table tennis and wrestling as North African sides which consist of Egypt, Algeria and Morocco take early lead at the ongoing 13th African Games taking place in Ghana at the end of day two.
With five medals which consist of three silver and two bronze garnered in table tennis and a late bronze in wrestling, Nigeria is seated at sixth position on the table as at time of filing this report, but will be looking forward to better performance as the game continues.
Egypt has taken early lead with 23 medals so far, which consists of 13 gold, four silver and six bronze, followed by Algeria with 15 medals consisting of three gold, three silver and 9 bronze, while Morocco has nine medals, consisting of two gold, four silver and three bronze.
Meanwhile, South Africa has garnered eight medals so far after winning two gold in swimming yesterday to minimize the dominance of the North Africans lead on the top four, but are still tied on number of gold medals with Tunisia who also have two.
While Nigeria seek its first gold and is hoping that wrestling will deliver it, reports coming from the Nigerian camp indicates that the Sports Minister, Senator John Enoh met with the athletes at the Games Village yesterday, and that meeting could ignite team Nigeria’s passion to win their first gold when they resume play tomorrow.
Furthermore, there are also strong indications that aside wrestling, disciplines such as weightlifting, badminton, scrabble, female football among others, could help lift team Nigeria to winning gold, while male football where the team started poorly after losing to Uganda in their opener does not seem to be a source of hope for medal in the continental showpiece.
