Everything you need to know as 2023 West African University Games kicks off in OAU

(IFE, Made In Africa Sport) – The 2023 edition of the West African University Games (WAUG) started at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, on Monday, 18 December 2023.

WAUG, also known as the ECOWAS Students Games, is a multi-sport event among student-athletes from universities in West Africa.

The continental sports event, scheduled to be held between 16 and 22 December 2023, attracted contingents from various universities in Nigeria and Ghana.

Participating teams

While the organisers still expect more universities, Made In Africa Sport can confirm that the following 20 universities will be participating in the games:

• Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) – Host
• Ambrose Ali University (AAU)
• Bayero University Kano (BUK)
• Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana (KNUST)
• Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD)
• University for Development Studies, Ghana (UDS)
• Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lappai (IBBUL)
• University of Ibadan (UI)
• Lagos State University (LASU)
• Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE)
• University of Ghana (UG)
• University of Ilorin (UNILORIN)
• Benson Idahosa University (BIU)
• University of Education Winneba, Ghana (UEW)
• University of Lagos (UNILAG)
• Ekiti State University (EKSU)
• Lagos State University of Education (LASUED)
• University of Osun (UNIOSUN)
• Kwara State University (KWASU)
• University of Abuja (UNIABUJA)

Games Overview

Made In Africa Sport understands that this edition will not be a full WAUG Championship and only four games will be featured.

The edition is titled WAUG TATTB with the latter acronym representing the four sports to be featured; Tennis, Athletics, Table Tennis and Basketball (3×3).

Tennis

The Tennis event will feature ladies and men’s singles and doubles, and the mixed doubles.

The ladies singles starts in the second round (round of 16), ABUAD (Azubuike) faces OAU (Sani), ABUAD (Oraigbo) faces OAU (Yinus) in another match-up while IBBUL (Danjuma), UI (Ayodeji), UG (Aghoghorbia), UG (Manu), UI (Jimoh), and BIU (Godwin Mary) receives a bye to the quarter-finals.

In the ladies doubles, UG (Aghoghorbia/Manu), UI (Ayodeji/Jimoh), and BIU (Godwin/Udoka) receive bye to the semi-finals while ABUAD (Azubuike/Oraigbo) and OAU (Sani/Yinus) face off in the only quarter-final fixture.

The men’s singles and doubles fixtures are yet to be made, but the mixed doubles have been confirmed.

The mixed doubles will start from the semi-finals and will see IBBUL (Kwange/Danjuma) going up against the host, OAU (Makinde/Yinus), while ABUAD (Bello/Oraigbo) faces off against BIU (Debekeme/Godwin).

Basketball

The draws for the basketball event were made on Monday, 18 December with 10 teams grouped in two for the male category and six teams grouped into two in the female category.

Group A for men has AAU, BUK, KNUST, ABUAD, and UDS.

In Group B, host Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is joined by IBBUL, UI, LASU, and FUOYE.

For the female category, Group A consists of UDS, UNILORIN, and BIU while ABUAD and BUK match up with OAU in Group B.

Day one of the basketball games will see the following 16 matches played at an unspecified time.

1. AAU vs. BUK (Male)
2. KNUST vs ABUAD (Male)
3. UNILORIN vs UDS (Female)
4. UDS vs AAU (Male)
5. IBBUL vs UI (Male)
6. LASU vs FUOYE (Male)
7. ABUAD vs OAU (Female)
8. OAU vs IBBUL (Male)
9. BUK vs ABUAD (Male)
10. AAU vs KNUST (Male)
11. BUK vs ABUAD (Female)
12. UDS vs BUK (Male)
13. UI vs FUOYE (Male)
14. IBBUL vs LASU (Male)
15. BIU vs UNILORIN (Female)
16. OAU vs UI (Male)

Ten games follow on Tuesday, day two, while semi-finals, third-place, and finals come up on Wednesday, day three.

Table Tennis

The draw for the Table Tennis event took place on Monday evening at the Table Tennis hall in Obafemi Awolowo University.

The singles events will start in a group phase, with the athletes in Groups A to D.

MEN’S SINGLES GROUP

Group A

• S. Boboye – BIU
• Abdulbaki Yinusa – BUK
• Afowewo Jesutomi – EKSU
• Bless Hodasi – UG

Group B

• Qudus Surmer – LASU
• Ahmad Oladipupo – LASUED
• Tiamiyu Abdullahi – OAU
• Ogbodo David – ABUAD
• Charles Forson – UEW

Group C

• Adeolu Opeyemi – OAU
• John Mathew – BIU
• Oscar Forson – UEW
• Olaniyan Fawaz – UNILAG
• E. Richard Daniel – FUOYE
• Oyeyinka S. Boluwatife – UNILORIN

Group D

• Emmanuel Osei – UG
• Jimoh Muiz -UNILORIN
• Akala Mayokun – UI
• Ekemta Daniel – ABUAD
• Adedara Michael – EKSU
• James Okechukwu – UNILAG

WOMEN’S SINGLES GROUP

Group A

• Hope Udoaka – BIU
• Hamzat Mariam – LASUED
• Mustapha Adejoke – LASU

Group B

• Zainab Surmer – LASU
• Patience Adoboh – BUK
• Oluyemi Ifedolapo – EKSU

Group C

• Ayobami Taiwo – OAU
• Tolulope Aluko – EKSU
• Babalola Dorcas – LASUED

Group D

• Judith Achempong – UEW
• Ibrahim Elizabeth – UI
• Ogidan Iyanuoluwa – OAU

Commencing with a single match in the first round, the men’s doubles event will feature LASU (Surmer/Saidi) against UNILAG (Olaniyan/Ikechukwu). The victor in this encounter will progress to the quarterfinals (second round) to face OAU (Gbadebo/Adeolu).

In the remaining second-round match-ups, BIU (Boboye/John) will confront UNILORIN (Jimoh/Oyeyinka), ABUAD (Ogbodo/Akinbohun) will take on UG (Emmanuel/Bless), and UEW (Forson O/Forson C) will compete against EKSU (Afowowe/Adedara).

Moving to the women’s doubles, the semi-finals will feature LASUED (Babalola/Hamzat) against OAU (Ayobami/Ogidan) and EKSU (Aluko/Oluyemi) against LASU (Surmer/Mustapha).

In the mixed doubles, BIU (Boboye/Udoaka) will initiate the quarter-final proceedings against BUK (Abdulbaki/Adoboh). Concurrently, EKSU (Afowowe/Aluko) will face UEW (Forson O/Achempong), LASU (Surmer Q /Surmer Z) will compete against UI (Akala/Ibrahim), and LASUED (Ahmad/Babalola) will clash with OAU (Adeolu/Ayobami) to complete the round’s bracket.

The games are set to kick off on Tuesday and culminate on Wednesday.

Athletics

The athletics event will kick off on Tuesday and conclude on Wednesday, featuring morning and afternoon sessions on both days.

Full Schedule:

Day 1 – Tuesday, 19th December

Morning Session:

• 9:00 A.M. – 1,500m (M/W) – FINAL
• High Jump (M/W) – FINAL
• 9:30 A.M. – 100m (M/W) – SEMI-FINAL
• Shot Put (M/W) – FINAL
• 10:20 A.M. – 400m (M/W) – SEMI-FINAL
• 11:30 A.M. – 4x100m (M/W) – FINAL

Afternoon Session:

• 2:30 P.M. – 110mH/100mH (M/W) – FINAL
• Javelin (M/W) – FINAL
• Triple Jump (M/W) – FINAL
• 3:00 P.M. – 800m (M/W) – FINAL
• 3:30 P.M. – 100m (M/W) – FINAL
• 4:00 P.M. – 4x400m (M/W) – FINAL

Day 2 – 20th December

Morning Session:

• 9:00 A.M. – 5,000m (M) – FINAL
• Discus (M/W) – FINAL
• 10:00 A.M. – 400m (M/W) – FINAL

Afternoon Session:

• 2:30 P.M. – 200m (M/W) – SEMI-FINAL
• Long Jump (M/W) – FINAL
• 3:30 P.M. – 400mH (M/W) – FINAL
• 4:00 P.M. – 5,000m (W) – FINAL
• 4:30 P.M. – 200m (M/W) – FINAL
• 5:00 P.M. – 4x100m MIXED RELAY – FINAL

Previous Editions

The competition began in 1965 at the University of Ibadan. OAU was the host for the first time in 1975, during the sixth edition. It is the only Nigerian university to host the games a second time, as it hosts the 15th edition.

The 14th edition was the most recent one, hosted by the University of Port Harcourt (Nigeria) in 2018. The 13th edition, also in Nigeria (UNILORIN) in 2012, had 1,443 athletes from 56 West African Universities from five countries competing in 13 Olympic sports.

The games have visited different West African cities in its 68-year span, such as Freetown (Sierra Leone), Kumasi (Ghana), Yamoussoukro (Côte d’Ivoire), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), and Ibadan (Nigeria).