Joseph ODOEKWU
ACCRA-MARCH 12: Nine gold medals from three Nigeria’s weightlifters was enough to make Nigeria climb to the second position of the table as Nigeria now overtake Algeria and South Africa who were initially seated at the 2nd and 3rd positions before Monday gold medals overhaul by Nigerian Weightlifters.
Edidiong Umoafia set the tone in the gold overhaul in the men’s category, winning all available gold medals in men’s 67kg, 67kg Snatch and 67kg Clean-Jerk. His hat trick of gold lifted Team Nigeria to 10 gold medals before noon as the wait for more accomplishment continued.
In the evening of Monday at the GCB event centre, two of Nigeria’s women followed up with Umoafia’s earlier impressive performance as 27-year-old Rafiatu Lawal and 24-year-old Adijat Olarinoye clinched another set of hat tricks each in women category to catapult Nigeria to the second position on the table a few minutes before 8pm Ghanaian time.
Rafiatu Lawal won three gold medals in women’s 59kg, women’s 59kg Snatch and women’s 59kg Clean-Jerk, while her compatriot Adijat Olarinoye won another three gold medals in women’s 55kg, women’s 55kg Snatch and women’s 55kg Clean-Jerk.
The laudable feat means Nigeria won nine gold medals on Monday, after winning seven on Sunday through wrestling and Badminton.
A feat which did not just take Nigeria to the second position on the table, but also speaks volume on the need for Nigeria to give adequate and timely attention to the development of individual sport in the country.
Although Nigeria’s men wrestlers could not win any gold as a follow up to what their women did on Sunday, they settled for three silver medals and one bronze in their games.
In another positive development, the Flying Eagles of Nigeria yesterday beat the Southern Sudan team at the Accra stadium in men’s football, through a late goal which came from a spot kick in the 80th minute to keep Nigeria’s hope of reaching the semifinal alive.
The Flying Eagles will now face Senegal in the final group match on Friday at the Accra stadium, to search for an opportunity to reach the semifinal stage of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Nigeria who are now second on the medal table with 37 medals consisting of 16 gold, 7 silver and 14 bronze medals, now trail runaway 13th African Games medal leaders Egypt, who have 78 medals comprising of 41 gold, 19 silvers and 18 bronze medals.
While Nigeria is aspiring to close the gap between her and Egypt, they are also closely trailed by Algeria and South Africa who have 15 and 12 gold medals respectively as at time of filing this report and anxiously waiting in the 3rd and 4th positions to make an upward move.