……..Baseball5 event kicks off Friday.
With just one day to the opening ceremony of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, Team Nigeria is poised to showcase the country’s emerging sporting talents at the historic global event, which marks the first time an Olympic sporting competition will be hosted on African soil.
Nigeria will be represented by 19 athletes, comprising 12 women and seven men, competing across six sports: athletics, boxing, road cycling, swimming, table tennis and beach volleyball.
The Games, which run from 31 October to 13 November, will bring together thousands of young athletes from across the world in Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly, providing a platform for the next generation of sporting talents to compete and gain valuable international experience.
The countdown to the opening ceremony has coincided with the commencement of competition in Baseball5, which officially got underway on Friday morning, with the first matches already taking place as the sporting activities begin ahead of the formal ceremony.
For Team Nigeria, the focus remains on translating months of preparation into strong performances across the six sports, with athletics accounting for the largest share of the country’s contingent with nine athletes.
Swimming will feature four Nigerian athletes, while table tennis will have two representatives. Nigeria will also field a female boxer, a female road cyclist and a two-athlete women’s beach volleyball team.
The National Sports Commission (NSC), through its Grassroots Sports Development Department, has coordinated the preparations for the Nigerian contingent, including a 21-day local camping programme that featured medical screening, anti-doping education, technical and tactical training, kit fitting and other essential preparations.
Competitions in table tennis and beach volleyball are scheduled to begin on the opening day, while swimming starts on 1 November. Boxing will take place from 7 to 12 November, with athletics and road cycling scheduled for selected dates between 8 and 10 November.
The Youth Olympic Games represent an important opportunity for Nigeria’s young athletes to test themselves against some of the world’s best emerging talents, build international experience and lay the foundation for future success at senior-level competitions.
SIGNED:
Kola Daniel,
Special Assistant on Media,
Office of the Director General.
National Sports Commission.
30 October 2026.
