By Adekunle Oni-Daniel and Oluwademilade Ogunleye
Tuesday, 11th December 2025 featured Day 5 of the National University Games Association (NUGA) Games hosted by the University of Jos in Jos, Plateau State. As usual, the UI Contingents continued to shine, bringing their total medal tally to 15.
Here’s how things went down across various sports:
Swimming
After a commanding day 4 performance by the swimming team, day 5 started on a good note as the UI Swimmers took 2nd position in the 4 x 100m mixed relay which was won by Alimi Olanrewaju, Balogun Aishat, Oluwaseun Aloba and Adebayo Joseph. Other results from the swim team include 2nd position in the 200m Backstroke women (Gloria Akinyemi), 3rd position (heat 2) in the 100m freestyle male (Adebayo Joseph), 3rd position (heat 1) in the 100m freestyle male (Alimi Olanrewaju) and 4th position in both the 50m breaststroke female and 50m breaststroke male.
In total, the swim team has now won 2 silver medals and 2 bronze medals.
Judo
The Judo team for the University of Ibadan has now won seven medals in the ongoing NUGA 2025 competition in the University of Jos.
After a series of shiais, the judokas came up with one gold, one silver, and five bronze medals. Bello Olajide won the gold medal, Mololuwa Oluwaseun won the silver medal, while Olumuyiwa Morikeoluwa, Mathew Deborah, Ayo-Solanke Fortune, Hammed Aminat, and Ogungbe Adedoyin won the bronze medals for the University of Ibadan.
Athletics
In the Athletics events in the NUGA 2025 competition, the University of Ibadan athletes took to the track to participate in several events.
Eke Elijah participated in the 5km race and finished in sixth position. Oladele Ibrahim ran in the 400m heat event and finished the race in fifth position. Akinmusire Eniola also ran the 100m race finishing in the fifth position.
On the field, Akinniranye Oluwasemiloore participated in the javelin and shot put events. Semiloore could not qualify for the finals in the javelin event but participated in the shot put event. The shotput event was cut short, hoping to be concluded another day, but the final result showed Oluwasemiloore in third position in the female category for the shotput event.
Squash
In the squash event of the NUGA 2025 competition, Adewole Adeyinka, popularly known as Mascot, qualified for the quarterfinals of the squash event. His qualification was completed after defeating his opponent from the Federal University of Technology Minna (FUTMINNA) 2-1.
His qualification for the quarterfinal rounds raises the chances of another medal for the University of Ibadan in the NUGA 2025.
Football
The UI Pioneers on Tuesday came from a goal down to draw 1-1 at 2 minutes before full time against Usman Danfodio University. The Pioneers had earlier conceded an early goal in the 2nd minute, but thanks to a last-minute equaliser by Deji, the Pioneers sealed their qualification to the next round with a total of 5 points. The Pioneers had started their quest on Sunday with a 2-0 victory against the Lagos State University before playing a goalless draw against familiar foes, the University of Calabar.
Chess
The UI Chess team continued their giant stride as they delivered commendable performances in Rounds 4 and 5 of the ongoing NUGA 2025 Games. In the male category, UI played out a 2-2 draw against the University of Benin in Round 4. However, they bounced back in Round 5 with a narrow but important 21/2 – 11/2victory over Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, keeping their hopes alive in the tournament.
For the female team, it was a dominant outing in round 4 as they secured a clean 4-0 sweep against Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University. The momentum carried into Round 5 where they battled to a 2-2 draw with Obafemi Awolowo University in a tightly contested fixture.
Taekwondo
For taekwondo, Abel Adebola Victoria from the Faculty of Environmental Design clinched bronze in the 49kg Taekwondo event.
The UI Athletes will go again on Wednesday, 12th November 2025, as the University contingents fly their flag high. The Chess team will continue their outing today in high hopes to clinch at least 5 medals in the male category while Taekwondo also continues with 8 different UI participants across multiple categories. Also, the Swimming team would round things up as they participate in 4 more events.
