Nigerians win seven medals at African Archery Champs

Nigerians Win Seven Medals at African Archery Championships

Nigeria made history at the 15th African Archery Championships in Oran, Algeria, delivering its most successful performance to date with a total of seven medals: one gold, five silver, and one bronze. The highlight was a maiden team gold in the barebow women’s event.

The standout achievement came in the barebow women’s team final, where Faith Adekogbe, Mandu Eteidung, and Precious Fanny-Amun defeated host nation Algeria 5-3 to claim Nigeria’s first-ever team title at the continental level.

Faith Adekogbe was the individual star of the tournament, securing three medals. Alongside the team gold, she reached the individual barebow women’s final as the top seed, beating Algeria’s Malia Ait Messaoudene 6-4 in the quarter-final and compatriot Precious Fanny-Amun 6-4 in an all-Nigerian semi-final, before settling for silver after losing to Algeria’s Marwa Rahmoun. Adekogbe also took silver in the barebow mixed team event with Abubakar Usman, who himself earned two silvers during the championships.

The barebow men’s team—comprising Abdul Rahman Obasa, Abdulbasit Sanni, and Abubakar Usman—completed Nigeria’s barebow medal tally with a silver medal after finishing runners-up to Algeria. Notably, Nigeria reached all three barebow team finals and the individual barebow women’s final.

In compound events, Nigeria added three more medals. The men’s compound team of Aliyu Abubakar, Seun Emmanuel Oyeleke, and Damilola Bartholomew Sholademi reached the final after a 205-183 win against Algeria but were narrowly defeated 182-197 by Mauritius. The compound mixed team of Yvonne Hareke Evans-Uhegbu and Oyeleke also secured silver following a close 138-142 loss to Namibia in the final. Evans-Uhegbu earned a bronze in the individual compound women’s event by defeating Algeria’s Sihem Akli 129-90 after a semi-final loss. Oyeleke finished with two silver medals from the compound team and mixed events.

Team Nigeria competed with its largest-ever delegation to an African Championship, sending 18 archers across six categories under World Archery Africa. The event, held from July 21 to 26, featured 138 archers from 18 countries. The Nigerian contingent was led by federation president Mohammed Baba Abdullahi, vice-president Augustine Obiefuna Chigbolu, and coach Aliyu Garga.

This seven-medal haul marks continued progress for Nigerian archery, following successes in Pretoria (2022), Nabeul (2023), and multiple victories in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in 2025. Federation president Abdullahi hailed the results as a turning point for the sport in Nigeria.

“Seven medals and our first team gold — this is the day Nigeria stopped competing just to take part and started competing to win. And we are only just beginning,” he said.

Emmanuel Oyeleke, director of marketing for the federation, urged greater investment at the grassroots level and appealed to corporate sponsors, brands, and individuals to support the national team through funding, equipment, travel, and media partnerships to sustain Nigeria’s rising archery success.