• As Nigeria makes 75th position on the medal’s table
The Dream Team on Saturday delivered Nigeria’s first medal at the ongoing Rio Olympics which will be rounded off today in Brazil when they defeated hard-fighting Honduras 3-2 to clinch the bronze medal.
The remaining two Nigerian wrestlers, Amas Daniel and Soso Tamara will take to the mat before the closing ceremony of the prestigious Games.
However, the bronze medal served as a little consolation for the disappointment suffered by the country after all their medal hopes in athletics, boxing and other events were dashed.
Four years ago at London 2012, Nigeria returned home without a single medal.
Sadiq Umar scored a brace with Aminu Umar also getting on the scoreboard before Honduras fought back to take the game to 3-2.
Nigeria took the game to the Central Americans from the first whistle and threatened their opponents with early chances falling to Umar Aminu, Usman Mohammed Imoh Ezekiel.
AS Roma striker, Sadiq Umar finally opened the scoring after 34 minutes when he tapped home a cross by skipper John Mikel Obi.
And four minutes after the interval, Turkey-based Umar Aminu doubled the African champions lead when he tucked away a rebound from a Mikel shot from outside the box.
In the 56th minute, Sadiq scored his fourth goal of the competition when he picked his spot from inside the box to fire past Honduras goalkeeper, Luis Lopez ‘Buba’.
However, Honduras fought back to pull a goal back through substitute Anthony Lozano in the 71st minute, before Marcelo Periera made it 3-2 four minutes from time.
Meanwhile, the bronze won by the Dream Team makes Nigeria one of the joint 75th placed winners on the medal’s table.
The other nine countries with a bronze medal on the table as of the time of this report are Austria, Bulgaria, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, Moldova, Morocco, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates.
Medal’s table
G S B Total
1. US 39 36 33 108
2. GB 26 22 15 63
3. China 23 18 26 67
16. Kenya 5 5 0 10
37. S/Africa 1 6 2 9
49. I/Coast 1 0 1 2
67. Algeria 0 1 0 1
72. Egypt 0 0 3 3
72. Tunisia 0 0 3 3
75. Nigeria 0 0 1 1