Sonny Ba Akpata

Sonny Ba Akpata first showed off his sporting talent whilst at King’s College, Lagos in the early 1950s. In addition to playing cricket and field hockey, Akpata was an excellent field athlete who set school records in both the triple jump and long jump. After leaving school in Nigeria he earned a government scholarship to study at Michigan State University in the United States. He gained a bachelor of science degree in the US before studying at the Ontario Agricultural College in Canada. Akpata continued to compete in sport for Nigeria, which saw him finish tenth in the triple jump at the 1958 British Empire Games in Cardiff. A few years later he earned a place on the Olympic team for the 1964 Tokyo Games where he came 16th in the long jump. More than a decade later he also played for the Nigerian cricket team from 1975 to 1977.

Following his sporting career Akpata spent many years in various research roles in Nigeria. In 1974 he became the chief research officer at the Midwest State Ministry of Agriculture before becoming a deputy director at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in Lagos in 1976. He held several key positions, which ultimately led him to being appointed as a representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Swaziland in 1989. After three years in the role he moved to Ghana before eventually moving to the UNDP office in New York in 1995. Akpata retired five years later and returned home to Nigeria.

Personal Best: LJ – 7.59 (1962).