Sports

Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifier: Nigeria, Cameroon Share Spoils In Barren Draw

Nine-time African champions, Super Falcons, and the Indomitable Lionessess of Cameroon on Friday evening played out a goalless draw in the first leg, third round of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers in Douala.

The Nigerian team has not qualified for the women’s football tournament of the Olympics since 2008 when they were eliminated in the group stage after two defeats and one draw.

Cameroon denied the Nigerian women the passage to the 2012 Olympics in London and the Nigerians also failed to reach the 2016 and 2020 editions as they were stopped by Equatorial Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire.

The duo of African Women’s Footballer of The Year, Asisat Oshoala and Toni Payne lost some glaring scoring chances to put Nigeria ahead but Ugandan referee Shamirah Nabadda ruled out a Jennifer Echegini 54th minute goal for suposedly being in an offside position.

The teams will face-off in the return leg on Monday at the MKO Abiola stadium, Abuja with the winner likely to play against South Africa in th next round of qualifiers.

The Bayana Bayana thrashed Tanzania 3-0 also on Friday evening and will meet the winner of the Nigeria versus Cameroon two-legged fixtures.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.