Team Nigeria contingent to the just concluded 23rd African Senior Athletics Championships will arrive today (Friday) from Cameroon after days of competition for medals in the bustling city of Douala.
Recall that the team earned five gold, six silver and four bronze medals in Douala as against the five gold, three silver, and three bronze the country won at the 2022 edition held in Port Loius, Mauritius.
The Nigerian women athletes shone brightly at the tournament, securing a total of four gold, three silver, and two bronze medals. On the other hand, the male athletes contributed with one gold, two silver, and two bronze medals, including a Silver in the 4x400m Mix Relay.
Chukwuebuka Enekwechi defended his Shot Put title, while Ashley Anumba upgraded to gold in Women’s Discus throw.
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Ese Brume maintained her gold in Long Jump, and the Women’s 4x100m relay team clinched gold. Unfortunately, Tobi Amusan couldn’t defend her hurdles title due to illness.
Temitope Adeshina set a new national record but settled for silver in High Jump. Cameroon, with 52 athletes, finished 17th with two silver and four bronze medals.
Meanwhile, a former African sprint champion, Endurance Ojokolo has hailed the performances of the team despite the ‘several’ setbacks the team encountered in the championships.
“By my calculation, we lost four gold medals due to setbacks we encountered here,” Ojokolo, who is a member of the technical crew, told AFN Media.
“Tobi Amusan would have easily picked the gold in the 100m women’s hurdles, but she was sick on our arrival. Favour Ofili could have given us the gold in women’s 100m and even the 200m, but she pulled out after qualifying for the semifinal in the 100m to raise our hopes.
“Even the men’s 4x100m gold could have come to Nigeria, if we had Favour Ashe. The 4x400m Mixed Relay was a sure gold for us, but something went wrong along the line. If we were able to capture three of those gold medals I just mentioned, South Africa would have finished far behind us in this competition because they benefited more from the setback we encountered,” she said
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