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It is the first contest won by Nigeria since Beijing 2008 started on Wednesday.
The Super Falcons, the Nigerian female football team, lost two games, badminton player, Grace Daniel lost her contest 2-0 to Czech's Kristina Ludikova while boxer Dauda Izobo was mercilessly beaten by Ghana's Bastie Samir.
But the men football team that played 0-0 with Holland on Thursday has restored hopes.
Victor Nsofor, who missed many scoring chances in the first stanza of the game, eventually made up for the misses scoring one and setting up another as the result sees Nigeria move up as temporary group leaders.
But the 2-2 draw between Holland and USA later in the day has given the Americans the edge.
Nigeria now look forward to round up the group stage with a clash with United States in Beijing on Wednesday. Nigeria's coach Samson Siasia was relieved after the game, even though he admitted some errors by his team.
"We made a few mistakes here and there but I am happy with the way my team played overall," he said at the post-match conference.
He would not be drawn into apportioning blames to any particular player, saying "all of my players played well tonight, and as a unit they were solid."
The first half was particularly appalling for Nigeria who missed many chances in spite of pressure mounted on the Japanese defence.
They had to wait for the second half before they could score. Siasia admitted hi s players were nervous in the first half.
"They were too anxious to score because we knew we had to win to have any chance of progressing. At half time, I had had to calm them down and I asked them to relax. It was then that the goals started coming in."
Meanwhile, Everton striker Victor Anichebe, whose introduction into the game against Japan brought some bite into the Nigerian attack, has blamed the weather in China for the uncoordinated attack by the Nigerian side.
His introduction was so effective that five fouls were committed on him after his introduction in the 62nd minute and he eventually scored Nigeria's second goal
Anichebe blamed his team mates' performance on the pitch, especially when it started to rain.
"The pitch was really (ruddy) tonight and the rain didn't help things either. This field gets a lot of use, and it's always going to get cut up. That and the humidity make it difficult to play. But it's just something we have to get used to, " Anichebe said.
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