The history sports in Nigeria will remain incomplete without a mention of Nigerian female athletes like Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, Falilat Ogunkoya-Osheku, Policewoman Chioma Ajunwa, Violet Odogwu, Mary Nku, Gloria Alozie, Maria Usifo, Gloria Kemasuode, Modupe Oshikoya, Franca Idoko, and a host of others who dominated athletic events at national and international level.
Apart from athletics, it is worthy to mention other immensely talented female athletes like Funke Oshonaike (table tennis) as well as Vivian Chukwuemeka, Lucy Ejike, Ruth Ogbeifo, Esther Oyema and Maria Usman, who held sway in weightlifting.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Favour Ofili, a youth Olympics champion and her compatriot, Ruth Usoro, are the rave of the moment in world of athletics.
They both displayed eye catching performances at the just concluded SEC Indoor Championship at the Randal Tyson Indoor Centre in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA.
While Ofili raced to a new African 200m Indoor record, Usoro also surpassed the 14.32m standard for the triple jump after she jumped to a new 14.38m Nigerian record, surpassing the 14.28m she had set.
With such outstanding performances, they both qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in grand style.
However, it is worthy to note that there are other female athletes who deserve special mention because they have defiled all odds to participate and win laurels in sporting events that were once considered only suitable for their male counterparts.
Therefore, intriguing stories of some female athletes who are presently achieving great feats in combat sports like taekwondo, wrestling, judo and boxing is worthy of mention.
Consequently, even before they advanced to the mats where they have continued to live their dreams in the male dominated events, athletes like Odunayo Adekuoroye, Helen Joseph and Elizabeth Anyanacho had to first overcome the stiff resistance from their parents who felt that they were too fragile for combat sports.
While Adekuoroye had to lie to her parents to reach the mats where she is presently a back to back Commonwealth Games wrestling champion in the 57kg category, it took resilience and the intervention of 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medallist, Chika Chukwumerije for Anyanacho to be allowed by her parents to participate in taekwondo.
Having successfully navigated through the hurdles in their paths, these athletes have become so formidable in their professional careers such that Nigeria is now counting on them for medals at the forthcoming Tokyo Olympics.
Based on their outstanding performances at recently held international competitions, Adekuoroye (wrestling), Anyanacho (taekwondo), and Enku Ekuta (judo) have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.
Although the dare-devil boxer, Helen Joseph currently based in the USA is not looking at the Tokyo Olympics, she is without doubt, so good and confident that opponents are not eager to engage her in the world boxing bouts she has been yearning for.
Odunayo Adekuoroye: Born on December 10, 1993 in Ilutitun, Okitipupa LGA in Ondo State, Odunayo currently occupies the number one spot in world wrestling in the 57kg category.
She has been in top form since she successfully defended her Commonwealth Games titles at Gold Coast in 2018. Adekuoroye won her first Commonwealth Games medal at Glasgow 2014.
It would be recalled that the ‘dancing wrestler’ made history in 2017 when she reached the World Championship finals. She and Marwa Amri became the first African women to wrestle in a final at the world level.
Adekuoroye qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2019 when she defeated Sun Jong of North Korea 12-2 via technical superiority in the 57kg category to reach the semi-finals of the Senior World Wrestling Championship in Kazakhstan.
The African champion, who is sponsored by Halogen Group, Nigeria’s leading Security Company, became world number one after she won her sixth gold medal with a 10-0 lead against Eman Ebrahim of Egypt at the final of the 2020 African Championship in Algeria.
With 61 points, she rose one point higher than the former No. 1, Kawai Risako of Japan who reigned until recently with 60pts.
Based on her current world ranking, the Ondo State born wrestler is expected to improve on her quarter-final performance when she debuted at the Rio 2016 Olympics by winning a medal for Team Nigeria in Tokyo.
Elizabeth Anyanacho: This 21 year old lanky taekwondo athlete, discovered and groomed by Olympics bronze medallist, Chika Chukwumerije is the poster girl of Nigerian taekwondo.
The 2019 All Africa Games bronze medallist is the first Nigerian female taekwondo athlete to qualify for the Olympics in 16 years.
Nigeria’s first ever female taekwondo Olympian was Princess Dudu, who represented the country at the 2004 Athens Olympics, when Elizabeth was only five years old.
Anyanacho qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after a 12-5 victory over Gabonese’s Urgence Mouega at the African qualifiers in Rabat Morocco.
Standing at above six feet, the student of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, who is a national under 67kg champion has competed in 13 tourneys, winning eight of them and finishing twice in second and third three times.
Considering that only four Nigerians have reached the Olympics since taekwondo became an Olympic sport in 2000 at Sydney Games, Anyanacho’s achievement is no mean feat.
Enku Ekuta: The daughter of an Olympian, Enku Ekuta is the face of Nigerian judo. Unlike Adekuoroye and Anyanacho, who fought their ways to the mat, she had unhindered access to the game of judo because of the sporting background of her parents.
17 years ago, her mother, Catherine Ewa-Ekuta represented Nigeria in judo at the 2004 Athens Olympics. By qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, she is only following in the footsteps of her mother.
Helen Joseph: Based in the city of Connecticut in the USA, this dare-devil female boxer fights from featherweight, Bantamweight to Super flyweight divisions.
Fondly called ‘Iron lady’ due to her straight forward attacking style, 31-year-old Joseph has won the best fighter of the year 2012, the best fighter of the year 2015 and the best knock-out of the year 2017.
She also boasts of an incredible record of 17 victories, two draws and five losses out of 24 professional bouts.
Ten of her victories have been by way of straight knock out and seven by unanimous decision.
Joseph’s most recent losses came against two former lightweight world champions, Delfine Persoon of Belgium and Mikaela Mayer of the USA.
Undaunted by these slips, the ‘Princess of Africa’ is eager to stage a world boxing bout in Nigeria, her country of birth.
Unfortunately, she is so dreaded by opponents that getting them to face her in the ring has not been an easy task.
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