Bayelsa continue to live up to their reputation as the kings of the pool, as they clinched four of the six gold medals on display, in the evening session, during the swimming finals at the ongoing national sports festival.
Collins Obi of Bayelsa won gold in the 50m men’s butterfly stroke in grand style, swimming 24:34 sec to break the record of 25:30 secs set by teammate, Yellow Yeiyah, while Ifeakachukwu Nmor of Delta placed second.
In the 200m men’s medley, Opute Clinton of Team Delta swam a record 2:14:16 secs, to win gold, with Yellow Yeiyah and Adamu Praise of Bayelsa and Kano states who made up the medalists. In the 200m women’s backstroke Bayelsa, beat Delta to Gold, while Edo won bronze, as they repeated the feat in the 50m Breaststroke women.
Bayelsa wrapped up the day with a win in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay men, with Delta taking second place.
Earlier in the day, it was an epic aquatic battle at the new swimming pool complex, the venue for the swimming events at the ongoing National Sports Festival, in the 1500m women’s freestyle finals between rivals, Bayelsa and Edo States.
There was pride at stake for both teams, as their rivalry in the pool, stretches back to the past two editions of the sports festival where Delta won the event in Abuja 2018 and Bayelsa won in Edo 2020. It was therefore a showdown of heavyweights in the pool.
Bayelsa’s Ifiezegbe Gagbe, the defending champion and record holder got off to a very strong start, leaving others in her wake, before the unimaginable happened, as she excused herself on grounds of fatigue, after leading for 15 of the 30 laps. Her exit then paved the way for her rival, Okpochini Deborah of Team Delta who went all the way to clinch gold, much to the delight of the home fans.
In the 400m individual medley women, Akuyefa Timipaere of Delta won Gold, while Ifiezegbe Gagbe of Bayelsa and Tinayefa Edenotu of Edo, won Silver and Bronze medals, respectively.
The highlight of the swimming events was the medal presentation by the Honorable minister of Youths and Sports, Mr Sunday Dare.
In other events, Delta’s male and female hockey teams have progressed to the quarter-finals of the competition after recording victories against Nassarawa and Lagos states in their various pool B games.
In the lawn tennis event, the female team also qualified for the quarter-finals after impressive wins against their opponents. Marylove Edwards and Oyinlomo Quadre defeated Jesutoyosi Adeusi (Ekiti) and Olamide Esther (Ondo) 6/1, 6/0 and 6/1, 6/2 respectively.
In the male 400m hurdles final, Ochunogor Preyor of Edo State won gold with a personal best 0f 51:34secs. While in the female category, Abasiono Akpan (Akwa Ibom) timed her move to perfection, winning Gold, with Sarah Ochigbo and Glory Nathaniel, both of Delta winning Silver and Bronze respectively.
