Nigerian Olympic Committee hails Anyanacho's qualification for Paris 2024. GETTY IMAGES

The Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) has congratulated Team Nigeria's taekwondo star, Elizabeth Anyanacho, for qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Leadership reports.

The 24-year-old, one of the beneficiaries of the International Olympic Committee Scholarship, who became the second Nigerian female taekwondo athlete to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after Princess Dudu at Athens 2004, has made further history by becoming the first female Nigerian athlete to qualify for back-to-back Olympic Games in taekwondo. 

Anyanacho defeated Kenya's Jully Musangi in the two rounds of the -67kg category at the 2024 African Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament in Dakar, Senegal, to book her ticket to the Paris Summer Olympics. NOC President Habu Gumeltold in his statement: "We in the Olympic Movement are proud to be associated with such a rising star, and she is committed to flying the flag of the nation in Paris." Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) president, Abdullahi Saidu, expressed confidence in the ability of Anyanacho, who won the silver medal in the women's -67kg category at the 2023 African Taekwondo Championships in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to excel at Paris 2024. "Anyanacho will be come to the Paris Games later this year as a more mature lady.  She is ready to go," Saidu said.