The previous few months have been superb for Nigerian girls in several sports activities, the nation has produced a number of influential feminine sportspersons who’ve made important contributions to the game each domestically and internationally.
These feminine sports activities personnel haven’t solely excelled on the pitch however have additionally served as function fashions and inspiration for aspiring younger gamers in Nigeria and past. Their impression extends past the sport, empowering girls and selling the expansion of ladies’s sports activities in Nigeria.
Listed below are among the girls who’ve written their names within the sand of time:
Asisat Oshoala
The previous Barcelona participant is likely one of the most influential girls in sports activities in Nigeria following her contribution to the sport each on and off the pitch. Oshoala has impressed numerous younger ladies within the nation who want to make a reputation for themselves within the lovely recreation of soccer.
She was nominated for the 2023 Girls’s Ballon d’Or in September, and three months later, she gained the African Girls’s Footballer of the Yr for the sixth time.
Mimisen Iyorhe
The Nigerian referee has additionally been within the limelight previously couple of years however she made historical past in 2021 as the primary Nigerian girl to officiate a CAF senior males’s soccer match throughout the African Nations Championship. Moreover, she served as one of many FIFA Girls’s World Cup officers in 2023.
Mimisen based the “Purpose Sure Sports activities Initiative,” which inspires younger ladies to take part in sports activities. Discuss a lady’s woman.
Gbemisola Abudu
Gbemisola Abudu wants no introduction on the subject of basketball in Africa, she returned to her ardour for basketball after she had labored within the company business for thus a few years.
She is the present vp of NBA Africa and the NBA Nigeria Nation Lead. She can be the youngest and solely black girl to run a league workplace. In 2022, she was listed as one in every of Sports activities Illustrated’s 100 Most Influential Black Girls in Sports activities within the World.
Tobi Amusan
Oluwatobiloba Amusan put Nigeria’s identify on the map on the subject of the 100-meter hurdles on the 2018 Commonwealth Video games, setting a Video games report within the course of and has not seemed again since that day.
Tobi presently holds the world report within the 100-meter hurdles, having clocked a time of 12.12 seconds. She achieved this feat throughout the semi-final of the ladies’s 100-meter hurdles in 2022, hosted in Eugene, Oregon making her the primary Nigerian to say a world report in athletics.
The 26-year-old is presently the African and Commonwealth champion within the 100-meter hurdle. In 2021, she gained the Diamond League title. She defended this title in 2022 and 2023 and retained it, making her a three-time Diamond League holder. She has additionally influenced numerous younger girls in Nigeria and across the continent who want to get into Athletics.
Favour Ofili
The 20-year-old can be writing her identify within the stars on the subject of the world of Athletics. She broke into the limelight on the 2019 African Beneath-18 Championships, the place she gained each the 200- and 400-meter races.
The Tom Jones Memorial race will at all times stay memorable for Favour as she sprinted the 200 meters in an unimaginable 21.96 seconds. This made her the primary Nigerian and the second African girl to attain this feat in underneath 22 seconds.
On the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina, U.S., in February 2023, she set a brand new report for Louisiana State College (LSU) with a time of twenty-two.36 seconds. She grew to become the sixth quickest girl on the planet and the second in U.S. Collegiate historical past.
