By: Mahbubat K. Salahudeen
The Federation of International University Sports (FISU) Trials are scheduled to hold from April 6th to 12th, 2025 at the University of Jos.
The trials will feature student athletes across Nigerian tertiary institutions competing in Athletics, Badminton, Judo, Taekwondo, Table Tennis, Tennis, and Swimming of which a selected few will represent Nigeria at the Rhine-Ruhr World University Games in Germany.
The Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA), the body overseeing university sports in Nigeria, will coordinate the organization of the trials alongside the selection process with other stakeholders in the tertiary sports community.
According to the Sports Secretary of the Students’ Union, Victor Kolawole, the UI contingent will include ten student-athletes and is expected to arrive in Jos on April 4th.
While the list of athletes to represent the institution at the trials is yet to be confirmed, UI will be represented across Athletics, Taekwondo, and Judo.
He further stressed that a maximum of two athletes will represent the institution across the selected sport events should they qualify to feature in the games in Germany.
“In general, it is two athletes per sport due to cost. Initially, it was four athletes per sports but the budget was cut to two athletes for each sport event which means that the university cannot participate in any Relay race because we have just two representatives for Athletics.”
He also hinted the possibility of few female representatives for the trials in April due to the limited number of females in the targeted sport events, especially Athletics – with just three female athletes.
University of Ibadan had participated at the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu, where athletes Adedigba Oluwakorede and Adekola Tinuade represented Nigeria in the male and female 4×100m relay categories.
