Commonwealth and African sprint queen Blessing Okagbare has been voted the Nigerian Sportswoman of the Year at the 2014 edition of the Nigerian Sports Awards, which was held at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos last week.
The event, held on Thursday 13 November, 2014, was well attended by dignitaries from the Nigerian sports circle made up of ex- internationals, sports administrators, the media as well as personalities drawn from the corporate world.
[link id=”158″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Blessing Okagbare” target=”_blank”], who won the sprint double at the [link id=”242″ tax=”am_event_categories” text=”2014 Commonwealth Games” target=”_blank”] in Glasgow, Scotland and retained her African crown at the [link id=”367″ tax=”post_tag” text=”African Athletics Championships” target=”_blank”] few weeks later in Marrakesh, Morocco, won two awards on the night.
Okagbare, 26, took home the trophies in the Track and Field Star of the Year and Sportswoman of the Year categories.
Other winners at the 2014 Nigerian Sports Awards includes:
- School Sports Award – St. Barnabas Nursery and Primary School, Ilorin
- Footballer of the Year (Men) 2014 – Vincent Enyeama (Lille OSC, France)
- Footballer of the Year (Women) 2014 – Asisat Oshoala
- Team of the Year 2014 – The Falconets – Nigerian U-20 women’s team
- Coach of the Year 2014 – Peter Dedevbo (Falconets)
- Discovery of the year 2014 – Courtney Dike
- Ball sports personality of the year award – Aruna Quadri (Table-Tennis)
- Combat sports person of the Year 2014 – Odunayo Adekuroye
- Boxer of the year 2014 – Efe Ajagba
- Weightlifter of the Year 2014 – Maryam Usman
- Special Sports Person of the Year 2014 – Loveline Obiji (Power-Lifting)
- Track and Field Star of the Year 2014 – Blessing Okagbare
- Sports Journalist of the year (Print) – Tana Aiyeina
- Sports Journalist of the year (Radio) – Godwin Enakhena
- Photo Journalist of the year – Ayodele Ojo
- Sports Journalist of the year (TV) 2014 – Miyen Akiri
- Sports Administrator of year 2014 – Wahid Enitan Oshodi
- Sports Governor of year 2014 – Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN)
- Sportswoman of the Year 2014 – Blessing Okagbare (Athletics)
- Sportsman of the Year 2014 – Vincent Enyeama (Lille OSC, France)
The [link id=”610″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Nigerian Sports Award (NSA)”] is an award to recognize and celebrate outstanding performances by sports men & women of Nigerian origins. The award is presented to such sports personalities, whose performances shone brightest at local & international level in the course of the year.
The maiden edition of the Nigerian Sports Awards took place on Thursday, November 29th 2012, at the Federal Palace hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Meet The Authors
Yomog Meje is a former Nigerian junior athlete and the Associate editor at Athletics Africa.