Dark horse. That’s exactly what UIMSA has been in sports. Contrary to expectations, medical students are often perceived to be perpetually buried in books and devoted to long hours in the clinic. However, UIMSAites have shattered this stereotype, demonstrating that they are more than just bookworms. This year’s impressive display of athleticism serves as a testament to the untapped sporting talent and relentless spirit of UIMSAites.
What a year it’s been for UIMSA! From Ulympics ‘24 to the National Schools Teams Chess Championship to the Federation of Africa University Sports (FASU) Games to the Pre-NiMSA heat to NiMSA Games to SEALS Cup ‘24 to the ABH league to Super Cup ‘24 and back to Ulympics ‘25, UIMSAites displayed excellence on the track and on the field. This year, the female football team also went from ‘the first team to lose both the semifinal and the final of Provost Cup 2023 to the best female football team in UI. It was also a year of revelation for upcoming athletes such as Emmanuel Soriwei of the 2k25 class (sprints and long jump), Lekan Olanrewaju of the 2k26 class (sprints), Aduragbemi Oludehinwa of the 2k24 class (swimming), Adeola Adekojo of the 2k27 class (female basketball) and Oluwasegun Adegoke a.k.a Prestige of the 2k27 class.
The first event of the year was the Ulympics ‘24 and as you would expect, UIMSAites representing their classes dazzled. In the individual sports, Inioluwa John of the 2k21 class won the Scrabble event, Eniola Femi-Oni of the 2k19 class won the female table tennis while Okpara Charles of the 2k21 class won the male category. Akporherhe Blessing of the 2k25 class won the chess event and was also the Sportsman of the Year. In shotput, Abigail Oyedokun won gold for 2k21 while Ebenezer Bolaji did the same for 2k25. Chidinma Onyiuke, the current Sports Secretary, won the female javelin event. 2k19 had a clean sweep in the 100m sprint as their representatives, Fola Olorunyomi (female 100m) and Victor Olorunfemi (male 100m) won gold. Eniola Femi-Oni won gold in the female 200m event. Additionally, Fola won the Female Athlete of the Year award, Victor won the Male Athlete of the Year award and Eniola Femi-Oni won the Sportswoman of the Year award. Abdulqoyyum Alausa of the 2k26 class who won the Rookie of the Year award, also won the 200m male sprint. Qudus Akande of the 2k23 class won the male 800m sprint while Temiloluwa Aderemi of the 2k24 won the female category of the event.
In team events, 2k21 finally got the better of their close rivals, the 2k19 class, to win the male football tournament. The star-studded 2k21 female football team also won their category of the tournament. Basit Saliyu, Eniola Femi-Oni, Victor Olorunfemi and Fola Olorunyomi combined in the mixed 4x100m relay race to deliver gold for 2k19. Ulympics ‘24 also saw the first Sports Award Night in UIMSA. Asides awards already mentioned, Ebunoluwa Ogunkunle of the 2k26 class won the Rookie of the Year (female) award.
SEALS Cup ‘24 is one that will linger in the minds of UIMSAites for a long time. MBBS won the male edition of the competition in just their second year of participation, surpassing their 3rd place finish in the previous edition. Apart from the exit of players like Basit and Lukman in the 2k19 class, the only thing that changed about the team was the nomenclature. From Obeya ball to Liam ball, as the team kept serving UIMSAites ‘Hypertension football’. The team rose from average performances in the early matches of the competition to excellent performances in the knockout stages. On the road to glory, the team beat Human Kinetics and Health Education (KHE), Urban and Regional Planning (URP), Economics, Wood Products Engineering (WPE), Petroleum Engineering, Psychology and finally, Industrial and Production Engineering (IPE) in the final. Fans will forever be grateful to Babajide Badmus for that “Agüero moment” in the final. That goal overturned what seemed to be an all too familiar final-tragedy for UIMSA. Fans will also remember that goal from the centre half by Istanbul to give UIMSA the win against Petroleum Engineering in the quarter final and the penalty save by Emerald in the penalty shootout of the final. In the female category, UIMSA finished in second place after losing to ASSE 3-2 on penalties after a goalless draw in normal time. The team would eventually go on to become champions of the Super Cup, defeating Statistics by 1 goal to nil in the finals. Football finally smiled back at the team as heavyweights Eseosa, Chioma and Chidinma, Shola, Victoria ‘VK’, Agnes, among others, got their gold medal.
However, like many finals, the Super Cup final was a day of mixed feelings as the male football team lost their match. The team had an incredible run to the final, dismantling oppositions and smashing in goals. At the end of the first half of the final, it looked like UIMSA football was finally going to achieve double-gold in a day but things changed in the second half. The score was 1-all at the end of normal time but the team lost 4 goals to 1 in the penalty shootout. Some players won individual awards at the Super Cup including Habeeb Akinlabi who was the highest goal scorer with 5 goals in 4 matches, Victoria Kolawole won the Most Valuable Player award in the female category and Chioma Obiora won the Best Goalkeeper award. UIMSAites will hope to have both teams win their tournaments next year.
This year also saw the advent of the 2k27 class (Eximius). This class has shown a lot of potential for the future. During the Freshers’ Welcome football match, they beat the 2k26 class by 3 goals to one. They also beat the Veterinary Medicine class in a friendly by 4 goals to 3, while being held to draws against Dentistry and Pharmacy (2-2 on both occasions). In their current campaign in the CBN Cup, they played a goalless draw against WPE in the first match of the group stage and beat Physiotherapy/EHS by 3 goals to 1 in the second game. They’ve lost to their seniors, the 2k24 class in a friendly match by 3 goals to 1 and to the 2k23 class by 5 goals to nil in Ulympics ’25. The female team has also been nothing short of amazing. They won their first 2 matches in the Ulympics ‘24, defeating the 2k25 and the 2k23 classes by 1 goal to nil on both occasions to secure their spot in the semifinals of the competition. In basketball, the team caused a huge upset by defeating the 2k24 class 6-4. 3 of their female basket ball players also participated in the Inter-Faculty Basketball Competition where they finished second.
At the National Schools Teams Chess Championship, Abraham Oguntona of the 2k26 class and Blessing Akporherhe of the 2k25 class represented UI. They helped UI to a 5th place finish out of the 38 participating teams with Abraham also winning a bronze medal on Board 1. Simeon and Abraham represented UI at the FASU (All-African Universities) Games held in March. Each won two bronze medals each; one each in chess and scrabble for Simeon Okojie while both came from chess for Abraham.
The Pre-NiMSA Heat held in July. In the track and field events, Allie Oni and Adeoluwa Ariyo of the 2k24 class, Banke of the 2k27 class, Chidinma Onyiuke of the 2k23 class, Ebenezer Bolaji, Samuel Francis and Emmanuel Soriwei of the 2k25 class impressed spectators. In volleyball, Ebenezer Bolaji of the 2k25 class, Adeoluwa Ariyo and Aduragbemi Oludehinwa of the 2k24 class performed well. The basketball games saw the revelation of Adeola Adekojo of the 2k27 class. The experienced Onyinyechi Osisiogu of the 2k23 class also did not fail to deliver.
The NiMSA Games was simply enthralling! Despite complaints of lack of adequate financial support and sponsorship (which limited participation by qualified athletes), UIMSAites impressed on the national stage. UIMSA won 14 medals – 6 Gold, 5 Silver and 8 Bronze – to finish 4th on the medal table. Have you heard of Aquaman? Aduragbemi Oludehinwa a.k.a Aquaman was solely responsible for four of the six Gold medals UIMSA won. He won all the swimming events including the 50m Backstroke, 50m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle. The other Gold medals were won by Okpara Charles in the Male Table Tennis event and Emmanuel Soriwei in the 400m Sprint. The male and female football team claimed silver in the tournament, posing a striking similitude to the Provost Cup finals. The other silver medals were won by Abigail Oyedokun in Women’s Ayo, Chidinma Onyiuke in the Women’s Javelin and Emmanuel Soriwei in the Men’s Long Jump. The bronze medals were won by Men’s Volleyball team, Men’s 4×400 relay team consisting of Emmanuel Soriwei, Alausa Abdulqoyyum, Lekan Olanrewaju and Emerald, Emmanuel Soriwei in the Men’s 200m, Lekan Olanrewaju in the Men’s 800m, Shola Balogun and Ofumwengbe-Evba Eseosa in Women’s Table Tennis, Abigail Oyedokun in Women’s Shotput and Bolaji Ebenezer in the Men’s Shotput.
UIMSAites also participated in the recently concluded ABH League season. This year’s edition was particularly remarkable for the 2k21 class as it was their last dance in the competition. Finalists Teslim, Ramoni, Karbon, Ojo Tosin and Tafa all participated. Captain of the UIMSA football team, Ramoni, Hollandia, Habeeb, Istanbul, and Fuhad were members of FA Cup winners, Blazers FC. Karbon, Teslim, and David ‘Sir Dave’ Akinnusoye were players of the league winners, Gladiators FC. This win also meant Karbon has won the ABH League in 3 consecutive seasons as he played for Stampede FC, league winners in the previous two seasons, before moving to Gladiators FC this season. Promise of the 2k23 class played for Oshin FC, the 2nd runner-up in the FA Cup. Kenny Olajiga was a member of Skippo FC that lost the FA Cup 3rd place match to Oshin FC. Ojo Tosin and Yusuf were members of Shegzy FC. Titans FC was previously known as ‘the 2k19 team’ but upon the induction of that set, the team is now predominantly the 2k24 team. Gerald, Jide, Behemoth and Tofunmi were all members of the team, while Olajire Salako ‘Dr Park’ was the team coach.
The female category had just 3 matches and the winner was the team with the highest points tally. Chidinma, Peace Eze of 2k23 and Unique of 2k24 were players of Team B that won the league. Victoria of 2k21 was the coach. Chidinma scored one goal across the two matches, contributing to the team’s success. Team B defeated Team C 3-0 and Team A 1-0, to win the league with 6 points out of 6.
UIMSAites did not participate without winning any awards. Habeeb won the Dr Aire’s FA Award for the Most Valuable Player while Fagbenro Mustapha, the coach of the league winners, Gladiators FC, was included in the team of the season. Istanbul was nominated for the best defender award too.
Recently, the Ulympics ‘25 started. The group stages of most of the events are complete. In volleyball, 2k26, 2k23, 2k21 and 2k24 have all qualified for the semifinals. 2k21, 2k23, 2k25 and 2k27 have qualified for the semifinals in basketball. 2k26 were the earliest team to get knocked out of the male category of the football tournament after two disappointing 2-0 losses against 2k24 and 2k21. 2k23 are currently on top of their group after defeating 2k27 5-0 in a scintillating performance. In the female category, 2k24 have been knocked out of the competition after failing to show up for their matches, granting 2k21 and 2k26 walkover wins. 2k27 have also qualified for the semifinals after defeating 2k25 and 2k23 1-0 on both occasions. The remaining stages of the competitions have already started and other sports will be held next year.
A new year is before us. UIMSA has an exciting body of amazing talents in sports promising to do more. While issues of sponsorship and recognition may persist, UIMSA is ready to win a lot next year. It’s 2025 soon. Take a seat and enjoy!
Emmanuel Ibitunde.
