Nigeria Para Powerlifters recorded five medals delivering the country from a disastrous outing at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia on Tuesday.
Roland Ezuruike, Esther Oyema, Ndidi Nwosu and Ibrahim Abdulazeez carted away gold medals, while Paul Kehinde and Lucy Kehinde won silver medals each in their respective weight classes.
In the men’s lightweight final, Ezuruike became the first Nigerian to claim a gold medal at this year’s games lifting 224.3kg. World Champion and fellow compatriot, Kehinde who lifted 219.9kg settled for silver while Ali Jawad lifted 182.7kg to win the bronze medal for England.
In the women’s lightweight, Esther Onyema shattered the World Record with a lift of 141.6kg while captain of the team, Lucy Ejike claimed the silver medal with a lift of 134.1kg and Zoe Newson from England took the bronze medal with a lift of 106.1 kg.
The Women’s heavyweight was not different as Nwosu came back to the national team with a bang to lift 110.4kg to finish ahead of Louis Sudgen of England (89.2kg) and Joyce Njuguna of Kenya (89.0kg).
2014 Commonwealth Games champion Ibrahim Abdulazeez maintained his dominance in the heavyweight class snatching gold for Nigeria with a lift of 220kg, amassing a total of 191.9 points despite failing his attempt on 221kg.
Malaysia’s Yee Khie Jong claimed Silver, also with 220kg, while India’s Sachin Chaudhary settled for Bronze with a lift of 201kg.
With the exceptional performance of the Powerlifting team, they have taken the country’s tally in Gold Coast to eight; four gold and four silver.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Yinka Ajayi has qualified for the final of the women’s 400m event scheduled for Wednesday. Ajayi finished second in heat 2 in a time of 51.82 seconds behind race winner Maximila Imali of Kenya in 51.52 seconds.
