Following the team’s glorious outing at the 13th African Games in Ghana, athletes and officials that represented Nigeria at the Mixed Martial Arts were honoured at a reception held in Lagos on Friday.
MMA made its first appearance as a demonstration sport at the multi-sports championships and all nine athletes that flew the country’s flag made podium finishes in various categories at the games.
The athletes who were selected from the National Open Amateur Mixed Martial Arts championship organized in held in Lagos last month by the Boxing and MMA Hall of Fame in conjunction with Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts, GAMMA Nigeria.
All nine MMA athletes proved their mettle against strong athletes from each of Mauritius, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Libya and host, Ghana, claiming five gold, three silver and one bronze medals.
At the welcome reception held in Lagos to celebrate the team, athletes and officials were applauded for defying the odds to bring pride and glory to the country.
Nigeria was also the most represented nation with officials who managed most of the fight’s tournament under the supervision of GAMMA International officials from all over the globe. The result was achieved through the work put into developing athletes and training for coaches and officials.
For GAMMA Nigeria, the arduous journey of bringing honour to the nation paid off and the country will build on the achievement by harnessing the potentials in MMA to develop more athletes that will compete at top championships like the African Knockout in the future.
Acknowledging the support of the Hall of Fame Nigeria, under the leadership youth development enthusiast and Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, the athletes expressed excitement with the opportunity to represent the country while looking forward to more local and international championships.
The inclusion of MMA into the African Games provides a milestone for the sport as GAMMA pushes to have it recognized by the Olympic movement and listed at the Olympic Games.
