All is set for the Alhaji Badaru Abubakar National Open Weightlifting Championship slated for 15th to 17th December, 2019 in Dutse, Jigawa state.
The President of Nigeria Weightlifting Federation, Yahaya Mohammed told www.aclsports.com that the championship is to discover local athletes in Jigawa state.
Mohammed said Jigawa state government is determined to identify athletes who have the capacity of representing Nigeria at various international championships.
He said, “I am excited the Jigawa state government led by his Excellency, Alhaji Badaru Abubakar is setting the pace in North West Nigeria by orgainising a weightlifting championship. The governor is aware of the exploit of the weightlifting team at the 2019 African Games in Morocco and wants athletes of Jigawa to make the country proud.
“The National Open Weightlifting Championship is meant to discover athletes in the state and also expose them for future tournaments. The weightlifting federation is ready to partner with the state government and necessary technical support will be provided”.
The weightlifting boss said Nigeria stands a bright chance of winning medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
He said, “Weightlifting was very instrumental to the success of Nigeria at the 2019 African Games, in fact the number of medals we won pushed Nigeria to second position on the log behind Egypt. I can tell you for free that weightlifting will win medals for Nigeria at Tokyo 2020 Olympic”.
