Paris Olympics: Naija Women to the Rescue

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The ongoing Paris Olympics has not been a good outing for the Nigerian contingent as we have been knocked out of almost every game we participated in at the first attempt.

From tennis to swimming, track and field, it's looking harder for to get a podium finish, even if for just a bronze medal.

However, with Blessing Oborududu in the bronze medal match of the Women Fresestyle 68kg in wrestling, Favour Ofili's berth in the final of the 200 metres race and the prospect of Tobi Amusan once she commences her own event, there seems to be some hope afterall with the female contingent doing us proud on some fronts and reigniting that flame of a podium finish.

I was utterly disappointed in the female football team though with their abysmal showing at the games, losing all three matches, conceding 11 and scoring just one.

The brightest moment yet has to be from the female basketball team, D'Tigress, who secured a quarterfinal place with a 79-70 victory over Canada, to make it five classification points from three games after defeating Australia in their first game and losing to hosts, France in their second.

Their first win against Australia was the beginning of good signs as they made the world number three look ordinary. More importantly, it was our first win in an Olympics game for 20 years.

With the power of Naija, they made further strides, qualifying for the quarterfinal for the first time ever. Although they finished third in the groups, they'd be facing the US in the quarterfinals.

Although we're African champions, I hope we can be the dark horses of this Olympics' basketball tournament.