By: Adekunle-Oni Daniel

The University of Ibadan student athletes departed for Jos, Plateau State, to participate in the ongoing 2025 Nigerian Universities Games Association (NUGA) Tournament on November 5, 2025. The competition which kicked off officially with an opening ceremony on November 9, 2025, is hosted biennially by a selected Nigerian university. It will be recalled that the current 27th edition of the NUGA competition was earlier postponed by a year to ensure  the adequate hostage of the tournament by the University of Jos.

The  team comprising athletes from various sporting disciplines including Athletics, Badminton, Chess, Football, Judo, Scrabble, Squash, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, and Taekwondo, travelled in two batches. The first batch began their journey from the University of Ibadan campus, early in the morning of Wednesday, November 5, 2025. After an 18 hours journey, the first batch touched down at UNIJOS on November 6, 2025. The second batch of the University of Ibadan team took off from the grounds of the University of Ibadan on Thursday, November 7, 2025, and got to the University of Jos on November 8, 2025.

Not all sports activities are being hosted in the University of Jos, as the swimming event is being held at Abuja. Consequently, the University of Ibadan swimming team had to travel back to Abuja after witnessing the opening ceremony of the NUGA ’25 competition in Jos.  Summing up to a total of 97, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, and the Registrar for the University of Ibadan, Mr. Ganiyu Saliu, met and charged the athletes, charging them to  display outstanding performances in the NUGA tournament. Prof. Adebowale, in his words to the athletes mentioned, that they have to show best quality in the sports they are performing.

“If it is from the University of Ibadan, it has to be of the very best quality.” Prof. Adebowale charged the athletes.

Challenges Faced in Jos

The first batch of the University of Ibadan athletes experienced accommodation issues in the University of Jos. The Unibadan Sports Page on X (formerly twitter) dropped a post six hours after touchdown, lamenting about poor welfare. Speaking to IndyPress On Thursday, November 7, 2025, one of the student athletes  who requested anonymity, claimed that the athletes were exhausted, being forced to settle for poor accommodation. “We are  just recently lodged. We never chop since morning. We just put our stuffs for hostel, cleaned the place because we found a way to fight around for the hostel, and we got it.” He told Indypress.

In a video shared on X (formerly twitter) on the Unibadan Sports Page, the sportsmen could be heard giving their piece on the place provided for accommodation. “So, we have been on the road for over 20 hours, na where dem dey rear chickens I go sleep abi,” an athlete spoke out.

Performances In Sports So Far

The University of Ibadan athletes, as of the time of filling this report, had  been gaining ground in the ongoing tournament, securing medals and qualifying for rounds. As of press time, there have been a number of 5 medals won by the University of Ibadan contingents.

Scrabbles

As of the time of this report, the scrabble team of the University of Ibadan has  secured three medals in  the National University Games Association (NUGA) 2025 competition.

The first gold was delivered in the singles game played on Saturday, November 8, 2025, and was played in a round robin style of play. Funmilayo Kelani from the University of Ibadan scrabbles team came out on top after a game of 10 rounds against different Universities in the country, securing the first gold medal for the University of Ibadan.

The next day featured the doubles category of the scrabbles event. In the female category, UI team came out top, securing the gold medal. Kelani Funmilola and Malik Barakat represented the University of Ibadan in the female category for the doubles.

In the male category, Enyi Kingsley and Onuh Benjamin secured the bronze medal in the doubles of the scrabbles event.

Football

The University of Ibadan male football team, the UI Pioneers, was  paired in the Group B alongside, Usmanu Danfodio University, Lagos State University (LASU), and the University of Calabar (UNICAL).

The first match for the UI Pioneers was played on November 9, 2025, against Lagos State University (LASU). The UI pioneers put out an outstanding performance against LASU, defeating them 2 – 0. The goal scorers were Obinna and Korede.

The second match for the UI Pioneers was played on November 10, 2025, against the University of Calabar (UNICAL). Despite having participated in a game a day before,  It happened that both performed spectacularly in the subsequent game. The match ended in a goalless draw.

UI Pioneers then faced Usman Danfodio University in the final match of the group stage on November 11, 2025.

The final match of the group stage ended in a 1-1 draw .The Pioneers conceded few minutes into the first half but was resilient to return the favor throughout the rest of the match.

Few minutes before the end of the second half, Ayodeji was able to score a goal for the University of Ibadan to fetch his team a one point lead and a qualification for the quarter finals stage of the NUGA 2025.

Lawn Tennis

The UI contingents in the lawn tennis have had a smooth run so far, qualifying for the quarter finals of the lawn tennis competition.

With a 4-1, 4-0 win over the Delta State University (DELSU) in straight sets on November 9, 2025, the UI lawn tennis team claimed their first victory as of the time of this report.

Marvin Onafurume secured a spot in the quarter finals of the Singles Tennis event in the ongoing NUGA ’25 games defeating his opponent from the University of Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Igoche Thoodores, in straight sets: 4-2, 4-0.

Table Tennis

After a hard fought set of games on the table, the table tennis singles were concluded on November 10, 2025. The representatives of UI fell out of the competition in the knockout stages.

In a best of five format for the women singles game, the University of Ibadan representative, Ibrahim Elizabeth, defeated her opponent from the University of Calabar (UNICAL) in three straight sets. However, Elizabeth lost in the quarter final stage of the competition.

In a best of five format for the male singles game, the University of Ibadan representative, Opara Charles, defeated his opponent representing the Federal University of Oye (FUOYE), Ekiti, in three straight sets. However, Charles could not continue in the competition, losing in the round of 16.

Swimming

November 10, 2025, the swimming competition kicked off in Abuja with a list of events for the contesting universities. The University of Ibadan swimmers, after going through series of events in the Abuja Swimming Pool, were able to secure one silver medal. The representative for the University of Ibadan, Akinyemi Gloria, bagged the silver medal in the 200m backstroke swimming competition for the female category, coming out second. The mixed team that participated in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay also secured the second position, giving the University of Ibadan another silver medal.

In the 100m freestyle male heat events, the representative for the University of Ibadan secured the third position in the two heat events.

In other events of the day, the University of Ibadan swimmers were able to make top spots but could not secure a medal. Securing the fourth position in the 50m breaststroke female, fourth position 50m breaststroke male, fourth position in the 100m freestyle female, and the 2nd position in the 200m backstroke female events, the University of Ibadan swimmers concluded the swimming events on November 10, 2025.

Judo

Three Judokas for the University of Ibadan won the first round of fights. Ahmed Aminat (52kg) representing the University of Ibadan, won against her opponent from Lagos State University of Education (LASUED). Oluwaseun Mololuwa (57kg) wins against her opponent, qualifying for the next round of judo shiai as of press time. Ogbah Onyebuchi David (66kg) also qualified for the next round winning against his opponent in a shiai bout as of the time of filling this report.

Chess

The chess game is played using the Swiss format. For the female category, the six Swiss format is used, where the representatives of the University of Ibadan play six rounds of chess games being paired with opponents who have similar scores after each round.

The male category is played in a 7-round Swiss format. The representatives of the University of Ibadan play seven rounds of chess games being paired with opponents who have similar performances in the scoreboard after every round.