2011 African Games gold medalist and captain of Team Nigeria, Uche Chukwumerije will lead 16-man taekwondo team to the 2015 African Games holding in Congo Brazzaville.
Chukwumerije (+87kg), 2014 German Opens champion and elder brother of Beijing Olympics bronze medalist, Chika, has been included in the eight-man men’s team list released by the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) Wednesday.
Also two Commonwealth gold medalists, Abubakar Adamu Isah (-54kg) and Mohammed Jamilu (-58kg) made the cut while 2011 African Games bronze medalist, Sunday Onofe (-80kg) is also included in the list.
Other members of the men’s team are Edwin Samson Nduka (-63kg), Kolade Paul (-68kg), Olushola Segun (-74kg), and Ayodele Temitope Ebenezer (-87kg).
The female eight-man team will be led by 2014 African Championship bronze medalist, Joy Ekhator (-49kg), who is the also the most experienced athlete among the women’s team.
Others are Jimoh Morufat (-46kg), Chinazum Nwosu (-52kg), Fatimoh Abdullahi (-57kg), Ndu Vivian (-63kg), Ifeoma Dennis (-67kg), Uzoamaka Otuadinma (-73kg) and Esther Uzoukwu (+73kg).
At the 2011 African Games in Mozambique, Nigeria finished fourth with two gold, one silver and seven bronze medals behind Egypt, Tunisia and Senegal which were top three teams in the taekwondo event.
According to NTF President, George Ashiru, the team is capable of achieving the two gold medals target set by National Sports Commission (NSC) for the team.
“We have selected the best nationally because they are the best in the country and what we need to do is just to expose them to international competitions. We had thought that we will be embarking of foreign tour before the games, but we have to make do with what we have and we are sure that we can achieve the target. We just need to rely on tactics and also work as a team at the games,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nigeria will have their hands full at the 2015 Africa Games as Egypt, Tunisia, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Gabon are the top ranked teams in Africa based on the latest rating released by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).
In the ranking of the eight weight categories released by WTF, athletes from Egypt dominated most of the rating while others were topped by athletes from Tunisia, Mali, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire as well as Niger Republic.
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