Five students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State, have qualified to represent Nigeria at the upcoming World University Games slated to hold from July 27 to August 8, 2023, in Chengdu, China.
The qualified students competed at the seven-day Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA) trials competition held at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Edo State from May 8th to May 14th, 2023.
Daodu Joel Eniola, Emeka Ugwu Junior, and Daramola Oluwatobi made the taekwondo list while Damilola Oyedepo and Motunrayo Abiola qualified for badminton.
The five students, including three male and two female, are among the best 100 athletes to represent Nigeria at the competition in Chengdu located in central Sichuan, as disclosed by NUGA.
According to NUGA, 41 universities across the country fought for spots on Nigeria’s squad in seven sports, including athletics, judo, badminton, table tennis, taekwondo, swimming and tennis.
NUGA President, Emeka Ogbu said the trials were a resounding success, saying they are proud of the talents that emerged to represent the country.
Speaking with Edugist, the institution’s Director of Sport, Lawal Akorede applauded the five talented athletes for making AAUA Nigeria’s top university.
The Director of Sports maintained that the university sports team is shining because the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olugbenga Ige, gave them an enabling environment and grace to put themselves out there.
Akorede added that Professor Ige’s support for promotion and development of sports activities contributed to the team’s success. He said scouting and inviting good students to the school team also contributed to their success.
“I appreciated the Vice-Chancellor for his support towards sports promotion and development in this noble University — we are calling for more,” he said.
“We have been doing that to make the school sport go higher because I always scout for good players and athletes at the sports complex every day.”
According to him, the sports council embellished students’ careers in sports activities to project them as good materials for potential clubs.
“Any students who are doing sports in the University are demonstrated whenever they go for any competition. The Vice-Chancellor due approved training and competition allowance.
“Most of the time, we bring ourselves down to the level of talented students to get the best. They must have had the idea and knowledge of the sport they want to do before they come to the university then we embellish it for them.”
By: Friday Omosola
