Sportspersons To Lookout For In 2021

  The year 2020 did not see a lot of sporting activities around the globe due to the coronavirus pandemic which led to the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and on the local front, the Nigeria Professional Football League, National Sports Festival, alongside other major sporting events. Despite this situation, some talents gave us a glimpse of what to expect in 2021.

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Elizabeth Anyanacho

Anyanacho thrilled Taekwondo fans/faithfuls in Nigeria after becoming the first female athlete to pick a ticket for the Olympics in sixteen years. 20-year-old Anyanacho is still an undergraduate student of statistics at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, but her study did not get in the way of her athletic life. She is Nigeria’s female national taekwondo champion and was impressive at the 2019 All Africa Games. Nigerians can surely place their bets on Anyanacho to have a decent outing at the Olympics in 2021.

Maduka Okoye

Maduka Okoye made his debut for the Nigerian national football team in a friendly game against five-time world champions, Brazil, on October 13, 2019, after replacing injured Francis Uzoho in goal. Since then, the 21-year-old goalkeeper has not looked back in his chase for glory. He joined Dutch League, Sparta Rotterdam this summer and has sealed his place as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper with a number of clean sheets, and has equally taken the place of the likes of Chidozie Akpeyi, Francis Uzoho, and Ikechukwu Ezenwa, as the Super Eagles number one. In 2021, we hope to see more of Maduka who has attributed his recent form to hard work.

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Chidera Ejuke

Ejuke who joined Russian Premier League giants, CSKA Moscow, on August 28th, 2020, made his debut for the Nigerian national team as a second-half substitute in a friendly game against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia on October 13, 2020. Ejuke, 22, did not spare time to hit the ground running in Moscow as he scored in his second game for CSKA Moscow. He was placed 17 on FIFA21’s 20 fastest footballers on the globe, something we believe he will add to the Super Eagles as the nation seeks continental glory (2022 AFCON) and qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Erica Ogwumike

Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, Erica Ogwumike, made the waves in 2020 after being selected as the 26^th pick in the WNBA draft by the New York Liberty and traded to the Minnesota Lynx. Erica, 22, was born and raised in the United States, but she has indicated interest to feature for the Nigerian women basketball national team, D’Tigress, her sisters (Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike) both play for the USA national basketball team. D’Tigress will compete at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics and Erica might get her chance to impress on the global stage for Nigeria.

Victor Osimhen

Enormous expectations and pressure were heaped on the shoulders of Osimhen after his big-money signing from Lille to Napoli in 2020, however, Victor Osimhen has struggled with consistency in the Italian Serie A, largely due to injury. Despite Osimhen’s struggles with injury, his capabilities on the field of play are not in doubt, hopefully, in 2021, the world will experience, again, the flair, speed, and potency in front of goal that made him the most expensive player in Africa.

Jordan Nwora

D’Tigers’ small forward, Jordan Nwora took college basketball by storm in the 2019/2020 season, however, expectations were cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. The advent of the virus did not dim his light as he was recognised for all his exceptional feats for Louisville Cardinals during the regular college basketball season. He was named:

• Third-team All-American – AP, SN, USBWA, NABC (2020)
• First-team All-ACC (2020)
• Finished second in the player of the year voting behind Tre Jones of the Duke Blue Devils.
• He was the 45th overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2020 NBA draft.

Jordan is definitely one kid to look out for in the year 2021, both in the NBA and on the African continent, as D’Tigers gear up to scale through the second phase of their 2021 Afrobasket qualifiers. Source: Goal Featured Image Source: WKBW

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This article was first published on 22nd December 2020

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