Moments That Defined Sports In 2015

Moments That Defined Sports In 2015

Nigeria’s performance in sports in 2015 was marked by a number of happenings which have led many to describe it as a year of “mixed fortunes” or, for others, “the best the nation has had in recent years” – although there were pockets of disappointments.

Football

The failure of the Super Eagles to defend their title which they won in 2013 at the 2015 edition of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) hosted by Equatorial Guinea still lingers in the hearts of most of the nation’s football lovers.

Coach Stephen Okechukwu-led Eagles failed to pick up the precious ticket after a 2-2 draw with South Africa’s Bafana Bafana at the Akwa Ibom International Stadium. Correspondingly, the former African champions who rose to 5th in April 1994, ended 2015 in lowly 66th on FIFA’s current standings.

The women senior national team, Super Falcons and the male U-20 side, Flying Eagles, gave the country a lot to cheer about on the continent, winning their African championships held in Namibia and Senegal, respectively.

However, against all expectations, both sides failed to shine on the world stage. While the Falcons exited the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada in the group stage, the Flying Eagles were knocked out of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand after losing 1-0 to Germany in the round of 16. Both teams went to the World Cup as African champions, but they could not deliver when it mattered the most.

The national Under-17 men team, the Golden Eaglets, made history in Chile when they successfully defended the 2013 title they won in UAE, making it a record fifth time they have won the title.

The Golden Eaglets produced the best player of the tournament, Kelechi Nwakali, who succeeded Manchester City’s wiz-kid, Kelechi Iheanacho.

The team also made history by producing the second best player in Victor Osimhen, who won the Golden Boot award after scoring 10 goals to set a tournament record for most goals scored by a player in a single event. It was also the first time Nigeria would win the Under-17 world title outside Asia, having previously won in China, Japan, Korea and the UAE.

The nation’s national U-23 male team, ‘Dream Team VI’, led by Coach Samson Siasia, overcame all odds to win the CAF AFCON U-23 tournament in Senegal. After starting on a not-too-convincing display, with a shaky 3-2 victory over Mali and a nervy draw with Egypt.

With the 2016 Olympic Games ticket already secured, after a semi-final berth, Siasia became the first coach to help the team to qualify twice for the Olympics – after doing it first in 2007 at the expense of arch rivals Ghana.

The U-23 Eagles went on to win the competition after a 2-1 victory over Algeria in the final.

Basketball

Nigeria’s senior national basketball male team D’Tigers won the 2015 edition of the Afrobasket tournament for the first time, drawing accolades and earning the side a 2016 Olympics ticket. D’Tigers defeated former champions, Angola 74-65 at the final to emerge continental champions.

Nigerian guard, Chamberlain Oguchi, was voted the Most Valuable Player of the tournament and best three-point shooter. Oguchi and Al-Farouq Aminu made the tourney’s best team.

The U-16 women basketball team emerged champions of the Youth Afro-basketball championship held in Mali.

Bolt, Gatlin Supremacy War

On Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015 Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, right, clinched gold medal in the men’s 100m ahead of United States’ Justin Gatlin at the World Athletics Championships at the Bird’s Nest stadium, Beijing, China. Bolt, who had been trailing for almost the entire race, beat Gatlin with a lunge at the line.

Scrabble

Wellington Jighere, became the World English-language Scrabble Players’ Association champion. He defeated Brit Lewis Mac

Events That Defined…

kay in four straight rounds out of seven in the finals of a four-day competition to complete his feat. The win made him the first African to win the scrabble championship and he returned home with $10,000, while five of his teammates made it into the tournament’s top 50 list.

All Africa Games

Team Nigeria’s contingent to the 2015 All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville, emerged the second best team behind Egypt, the overall winners at the end of the competition.

Team Nigeria, against all expectations, raked in 47 gold, 55 silver and 42 bronze medals to place second after Egypt that had an unassailable lead — 85 gold, 41 silver and 40 bronze medals.

Special sports athletes won 12 gold medals, eight from powerlifting and four in para-athletics, while track and field hauled in nine gold, wrestling nine gold while weight-lifting had eight and boxing four. Judo hauled in five gold, while cycling, table tennis and taekwondo had a gold medal each.

Okagbare, Athletics

Though the performance of the nation’s athletes at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, left a lot to be fixed, Nigerian track queen, Blessing Okagbare, found her way into the Guinness Book of Records for her fantastic run in the Diamond League as the only sprinter with the highest appearances in 2015. She beat world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt.

That is after breaking the world 200m record at the IAAF Golden League tourney in Doha, Qatar, in May 2015.

Keshi Out, Oliseh In

Stephen Keshi was given the marching order for the second time in eight months on July 4, 2015.

After about three years in the Super Eagles’ hot seat, the African Nations Cup-winning coach was, again, sacked by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after he was earlier dismissed and called back in October 2014.

Oliseh signed a five-year deal to replace Keshi on the Eagles’ hot-seat which will see him earn N60m a year, thanks to his “high intellectual capacity in coaching and recommendations by FIFA.”

Under Oliseh, the Super Eagles finished in a disappointing 66th position in 2015 FIFA ranking and are in the danger of miss out qualification for the 2017 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Gabon.

Don’t forget, the the coming of Oliseh saw the exit of Vincent Enyeama and Emmanuel Emenike from the national team.

Enyimba Win 7th League Title

The Aba Elephants as Enyimba are fondly called by their supporters made history in Nigerian footba Enyimba of Aba have claimed their 7th title in the Glo-Nigeria Professional Football League title. The former African champions on Match Day 37 drew goalless with Warri Wolves in front of a capacity crowd at the Enyimba International Stadium in Aba.

The side who chalked up a number of feats – including being champions in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2010, notched another in 2015 – will return to the continent in the CAF Champions League, hoping to re-enact the magic of 2003 and 2004 under Kadiri Ikhana and Okey Emordi, respectively.

Akwa United also made history winning in this year’s Federation Cup after they ended a 56-year jinx by beating 2003 winners Lobi Stars 2-1 to lift their first-ever national cup. The side will fly Nigeria’s flag in next year’s CAF Confederation Cup on account of this historic triumph.

FIFA Bribery Scandal Reaches Fever Pitch

It first began as whispers, followed by expositions and police raids, as well some dramatic moments, but, to cut to the chase, no one foresaw FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA boss Michel Platini being on the receiving side of eight-year bans from all football-related activities on December 21, following discreet investigations by the FIFA ethics comittee. The duo were found guilty of breaches surrounding a £1.3m ($2m) “disloyal payment” made to Platini in 2011.

The committee found Blatter and Platini had demonstrated an “abusive execution” of their positions.

“I will fight for me and for FIFA,” Blatter, 79, said at a news conference.

For Platini, the decision was a “masquerade” intended to “muddy-up” his name. Both men continue to deny wrong-doing and intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Swiss Blatter and 60-year-old Frenchman Platini have also been fined £33,700 ($50,000) and £54,000 ($80,000), respectively.

Serena Williams Loses Grand Slam Bid

In a stunning upset, Serena Williams was bounced from the U.S. Open on September 10 thereby lost her bid for the first Grand Slam in tennis in 27 years. Roberta Vinci, an unseeded Italian ranked No. 43 in the world, beat Williams 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals.

Williams was aiming for her 22nd major title, which would have tied her with Steffi Graf for the most in the Open Era. She had won the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon and needed only the U.S. Open to clinch the Grand Slam. Williams had not lost a Grand Slam match since June 27, 2014 and not at the U.S. Open in four years. The loss left her agonisingly short of what would have been the first Grand Slam since Graf in 1988.

That Unforgettable Mayweather Victory

After months of jawing and patience-testing debates between both men, the biggest fight in decades arrived. Welterweight and Philipino fighter Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Pacquiao would fight American Floyd Mayweather Jnr. Tickets sold out for over £200,000.

The day was May 3, 2015.

Floyd Mayweather remained undefeated and became the unified welterweight champion after hurdling Pacquiao in a fight between two generational talents in what was billed as ‘The Battle for Greatness’.

The fight was wathced by a global audience of over 2 million, with Mayweather extending his unbeaten record to 48 fights and proving himself to be one of the greatest fighters of his, or indeed any, generation.

Fury Upstages Klitschko

Against all expectations, Tyson Fury out-boxed Wladimir Klitschko to become the new world heavyweight champion via unanimous decision.

In a fight that surprisingly went the distance, Britain’s Fury edged the majority of the 12 rounds in a disappointing contest against the 39-year-old, who offered very little throughout, after holding sway in the category for 11 years! Fury now holds every version of the maximum-weight title barring the WBC edition after the judges at Dusseldorf’s ESPRIT Arena gave it to him with scores of 116-111, 115-112 and 115-112.

Barca Lifts UEFA Champions League Trophy

On June 6, 2015 Barcelona trumped Juventus 3-1in the final of the UEFA Champions League, at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Barcelona’s victory was its fifth and meant it became the first European team to complete the treble on two occasions.