By TUNMISE OMOSOFE

Lagos, Aug. 14, 2026 (NAN) The Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Bukola Olopade, has praised Nigeria’s performance at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships.

The championships took place at Rugby School Nigeria, Eko Atlantic, Lagos, where Olopade witnessed the closing ceremony and interacted with fencing stakeholders.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Olopade said the event demonstrated that Nigeria had sports thriving beyond football, while commending athletes, organisers and stakeholders involved in fencing.

“I’m thrilled and intrigued because we spent the last 24 hours feeling sad about the Super Falcons not qualifying for the World Cup,” Olopade said.

“But this tells you one thing, that beyond football there are sports that Nigerians are thriving in, that Nigerians are organising, and Nigerian children are winning,” he said.

“And we must also give respect and credence to those sports,” Olopade added.

He said fencing deserved greater recognition and investment because it was an Olympic sport with Nigerian athletes already showing Olympic prospects.

Olopade said Nigeria had high-performance athletes targeting the 2028 Olympics and that individual athletes, rather than sports categories, would determine eligibility for support.

“It’s not the sports that are in the categories, it is the individual athletes,” he said.

“We have athletes from weightlifting, wrestling, athletics, judo, any sports that is going to be at the Olympics,” Olopade said.

“You pick, we’ll do a ranking check. After the ranking check, if you are within the first 20 globally, then we’ll talk to you,” he added.

Olopade said the performances of Nigerian fencers showed the need to invest in and encourage the sport.

He noted that many medallists were under 20, describing their performances as evidence of fencing’s potential to produce future champions.

“This is a sport that we need to invest in, pay attention to, and encourage the federation to turn out more champions,” he said.

Olopade announced a 10,000-dollar quarterly grant for Oghenegaren Esiovwa-Thompson, Nigeria’s first gold medallist at the championships.

He said Thompson would also be placed in Category A of the NSC’s high-performance athletes programme.

Olopade said the support was intended to strengthen Esiovwa-Thompson’s preparations and improve his prospects of qualifying for the 2028 Olympics.

He also announced 5,000 dollars for the gold medallist, 2,000 dollars each for silver medallists and 1,000 dollars each for bronze medallists.

Olopade said the support demonstrated the commission’s commitment to rewarding athletes and investing in sports with genuine Olympic prospects.

He said his support for fencing followed persistent efforts by federation officials to demonstrate the sport’s development potential.

“He kept on showing me trajectories towards a successful fencing sport. He kept on pushing. He kept on trying,” Olopade said.

“Eventually, I said, okay. The National Sports Commission will support you,” he added.

Olopade said the Commonwealth Games had also provided important exposure for Nigerian athletes preparing for future international competitions.

He said six records were broken at the Commonwealth Games, with three belonging to Nigerian athletes.

He noted that some Nigerian medals had been achieved in events where the country had not previously won medals for several decades.

Olopade said the Commonwealth Games had demonstrated Nigeria’s progress and served as a pathway towards the Olympics and African Games.

“I did tell the media that the Commonwealth Games would be a training pathway towards the Olympics and the All-African Games,” he said.

“We have gone for training, so we keep working towards the Olympics,” Olopade added.

He described athletics as one of Nigeria’s sports currently showing significant resurgence and a strong trajectory towards international success.

Olopade said Nigeria could boast several world-class athletes and noted the country’s strong representation in upcoming major international competitions.

He said Nigeria had nine athletes who had qualified for the Ultimate Challenge, which was limited to the world’s top 60 athletes.

Olopade also said Nigerian relays had qualified for the Ultimate Challenge, further demonstrating the country’s growing strength in athletics.

He said the performances across different sports showed the importance of continuing to invest in athletes and provide proper development pathways.

Olopade said sports should also be viewed as an economic sector capable of creating employment, investment and opportunities for young Nigerians.

“Sport is the biggest enabler for any country. Sport is the biggest enabler,” he said.

He said Nigeria had the potential to benefit from the global sports economy by investing in facilities, athletes, competitions and the wider sports ecosystem.

Olopade said the NSC would continue supporting sports capable of producing athletes who could compete successfully at major international competitions.

He said the fencing championships had provided another opportunity for Nigeria to demonstrate that it could organise and host world-class sporting competitions.

He commended the fencing federation, athletes, coaches, officials, local organising committee, sponsors and participating countries for their contributions to the championships. (NAN)

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