Team Edo won gold of the dramatic final of the 100-metre sprint at the ongoing 22nd National Sports Festival held at the mainbowl of the MKO Abiola Sports Arena in Abeokuta, Ogun State on Saturday night, www.aclsports.com reports.
Chidera Ezeakor of Edo State returned in a time of 10:27s to win the gold medal. Enoch Adegoke (Edo State) and Emmanuel Taiwo (Rivers State) won silver and bronze medal respectively.
Meanwhile, drama started even before the final took place when 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, Favour Ashe of Delta State was disqualified for lining up with incomplete bibs. Despite the US-based athlete’s protest, he was stepped down from the race.
Speaking after his win, Ezeakor claimed the victory was possible due to his intense preparations for the race.
Ezeakor said, “I can say that I was well prepared for the sports festival, what I need to win the race is to get good from the blocks and maintain the first 60 seconds and off I go. I have gone through lots of training with my coach which is not an easy one, I really need to get this done which eventually came through. I am not scared of any of the athletes, what I will do now is to go home and get my body fixed to push further. I must prepare for the 4×100 race which I believe is going to be gold medal for Team Edo.’’
He added: This time round it is a great future for me, I am not under any pressure, I just need to be focused, get everything done and I am good. Big thanks to Team Edo, they have been behind me since and now I am behind them, giving them the gold is not an easy feat because that was what I promised from the day one. The next thing for me now is the world championship.’’
In the Women’s final, former NCAA Champion, Success Umukoro, was beaten to gold by her Delta teammate, Kate Odumosu. Odumosu finished in a time of 11.44s, followed by Umukoro in 11.55s while Iyanuoluwa Bada of Ogun State took bronze with a time of 11.58s.
