Nigeria picks captain for Rio Olympics

The Nigerian government on Tuesday announced Chelsea FC midfielder and Super Eagles captain Mikel Obi Captain of Team Nigeria to the 2016 Olympic Games at Rio in Brazil, which begins on Aug. 5.

Sports Minister Solomon Dalung, who disclosed this in a statement reaching Xinhua also named Funke Oshonaike as the Assistant Team Captain.

Mikel is one of the three over-aged players invited to the national under-23 football team for the Games.

He is making his first appearance at an Olympic Games, after missing out on the 2008 edition in Beijing, China where he was widely expected to make an appearance.

Table tennis star Oshonaike is making her sixth appearance at the Olympics after she made her debut at the Atlanta Games in 1996.

Mikel and Oshonaike were chosen because of their consistency, patriotism and dedication to national assignments, the minister said.

"Mikel is a young, patriotic footballer of international status and we believe he will be a role model to the upcoming athletes, while Oshonaike is experienced and is one of the oldest athletes in the team," he added.

"We believe that their combined efforts will bring goodwill to Team Nigeria and project the county's image positively to the world," Dalung said.

The country's Dream Team VI, Team Nigeria' s male football side, is expected to depart for Rio from Atlanta in the U.S., where they have been training, on Friday.

Other athletes making up the team are however expected to leave Nigeria on the same day from Abuja, Nigeria's capital city. Endit