The 26th edition of the Nigeria University Games Association (NUGA) games came to a conclusion on Sunday, March 26, 2022.
73 Universities across the country took part in the 2022 edition, hosted at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
The University of Port Harcourt came top after the collation of all medals won at the event.
Uniport as better known by its abbreviation won a total of 120 medals; 36 more than any other University.
Twenty-one games including football, volleyball, basketball, handball, lawn tennis, table tennis, badminton, hockey, cricket, chess, taekwondo, judo, swimming, Karate, strong man, beach volleyball, athletics, squash, and boxing among others were competed for.
Uniport’s Main Strength
The University of Port Harcourt got its major strength from the Swimming competition where they won 36 medals in the different categories.
Among those trophies were 20 gold, eight silver, and eight bronze medals, all in swimming.
They came into this year’s event as the defending champions having won the last edition in 2017 and have now been back-to-back winners of the University Games.
Uniport were handed the overall trophy after they won 61 gold, 29 silver and 30 bronze medals making it 120 medals for the Port Harcourt-based side.
Best Behaved Team
Benson Idahosa University, Edo State also won a trophy as the ‘Best Behaved University’ in recognition of their comportment during the activities.
Runners Up
Host, Unilag, came second having won 86 medals including 33 gold medals, 34 silver and 19 bronze as the University of Abuja came third with just 38 medals.
Next Host
After putting off the torch, UNILAG handed over the flag to the NUGA President, Prof Stephen Hamafyelto, while he presented it to the University of Jos as the next host of NUGA 2024.
Future Of The Participants
The Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, at the closing ceremony of NUGA 2022, commended the performance of all the universities; saying Nigerian students are very good.
Prof Stephen Hamafyelto announced at the close of the event that talents recognized during the competition would be called upon to represent Nigeria at the World University Games in China in June this year. He urged them to continue to train.
