The Golden Nigeria’s table tennis team

Nigeria is now third on the medals table  at the Congo Brazzaville 11th  All Africa Games, with South Africa and  Egypt  galloping  away in the first and second positions.

But  to Alhassan Yakmut, Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Team Nigeria should  not be ashamed of its status as its performance has  been good so far.

Yakmut, who was at the Makelekele Gymnasium to watch the Nigerian women beat their Gabonese counterparts in basketball, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that Nigeria’s current standing was expected.

Egypt and South Africa now appear to be out of sight for Nigeria on the medals table, in terms of position and number of medals won.

“Team Nigeria has maintained its character, that of always coming up in the last few days of the competition.

“Most of our best events are always held toward the end of the Games. So, right now, our medals haul has been improving, and it is `so far, so good’,’’ Yakmut said.

He, however, acknowledged that Team Nigeria was out of contention for the first two places on the medals table.

“First or second position is no longer possible for us, even though we are winning many medals now and we are going to win more.

“The problem is in the fact that we didn’t take advantage of some areas, such as fencing, while badminton didn’t give us what we expected.

“Athletics, particularly, has not given us what we should have and that has been disappointing,’’ the NSC director-general said.

He, however, praised the efforts of Team Nigeria in cycling and boxing, saying boxing had been the best for the Nigerian team so far.

Yakmut also pointed out that the country has a future in cycling with the Games’ performance.

NAN reports that the Games will end on Saturday