Nigerian juniors yesterday in Bambous, Mauritius topped the medals table of the African Junior Championships.
Divine
Oduduru and Nkiru Uwakwe added two gold medals on the final day of the
event to cement Nigeria’s position at the top with nine gold medals.
South Africa that threatened to spoil the fun for Nigerian officials
came second with seven gold medals; Ethiopia also had seven gold medals.
“Last
year in Port Novo, Benin Republic, we won the African senior
championships. Then in Warri earlier in the year, we won the African
youth championships and now,
we have won again. Indeed we have
completed a hat-trick,” Athletics Federation of Nigeria technical
director, Navy Commodore Omatseye Nesiama declared.
What thrilled
the Nigerian delegation was the overall performances of the athletes
some of who were in the team to the AYAC and the World Youth
Championships in Ukraine. Of particular note were Omezie Akerele and
Oduduru who ran his personal best in the men 200m.
Oduduru clocked
21.19 seconds to clinch the gold. He dusted off his opponents at the
curve, even as Mauritian, Permal Jonathan was on his trail, but Oduduru
held on to his lead to the finish. Jonathan tagged in at 21. 26, while
South Africa’s James Mokofend was third with 21.62.
In the girls
race, Uwakwe was also effective with her race plan. She beat off
opposition from Yuma Tamangu to finish at 24.21 seconds. The Ethiopian
took the silver with a time of 24.27 and Loungo Matihaku was third with
24.62.
“The era of using over age athletes is over. We can only
hope that we will get the support of public and private sectors to take
these athletes to the next level,” Nesiama added.
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