Nigeria’s weightlifters continued to rack up ranking points that will make the sport return to the Olympic Games again following their superlative performance in Ismaila, Egypt, the venue of the ongoing African Senior Weightlifting Championship which ends on Sunday.
The contingent made up of four weightlifters including Rafiatu Folashade Lawal (59kg), Adijat Olarinoye (59kg), Joy Ogbonne Eze (71kg) and Umoafia Edidiong (73kg) and four officials namely Janet Ali, Abdulsalam Kayode and Onubaye Sefiat and a referee: Lawrence Iquaibom , left the shores of Nigeria for Egypt on Saturday last week for the championship that served as Olympic Games Qualifier.
The weightlifters left Nigeria with the firm promise that they would outperform the medals recorded in the 2023 edition where they won three gold medals, seven silver and two bronze medals with five Weightlifters that attended the championship held then in Tunisia.
It turned out to be good outing for Team Nigeria as four weightlifters won six gold and five silver medals for an unprecedented outing.
Joy Ogbonne Eze rounded off a wonderful performance for Team Nigeria Weightlifters after she scooped all the three gold medals available in the 71kg women’s category on Wednesday in Ismaila, Egypt.
Eze who won three silver medals last year in Tunisia lifted 104 kg in the snatch to win a gold and added another gold in the clean and jerk with a lift of 130kg. The weightlifter made it a clean sweep with the third gold with a total lift of 234kg.
Notably, Eze’s three gold medals have moved her up to the top 12 in the Olympic qualification ranking in her weight class. Lawal, Olarinoye and Edidiong are closing in on Olympic Games tickets too with their performance in Ismaila, Egypt. Only top 10 will make it to the Olympic Games in Paris, France come July this year.
Earlier, the duo of Rafiatu Folashade Lawal and Adijat Adenike Olarinoye on Monday won three gold and three silver medals each at the championship.
Competing in the 59kg women’s category, Lawal and Adijat dominated the category as they carted away the top prizes in on Day 1 of the Championship which also serves as Paris 2024 Olympics qualifier.
Lawal, gold medal winner in Tunisia last year, established her superiority in the category as she once again claimed all the available three gold medals.
She won the first gold in with a lift of 95kg in snatch, claimed another gold in clean and jerk with 119kg before winning her third gold medal in total with 214kg.
Adijat on her part, followed suit on her previous year’s outing as she claimed, once again, all the three silver medals with 94kg in snatch, 115kg in clean and jerk and 209kg in total.
Umoafia Edidiong picked up two silver medals in the Men’s 73kg before the crowning glory from Joy Ogbonne Eze.
Edidiong who consolidated Nigeria’s quest for more medals and places in Paris Olympics in July competed in the 73kg men’s category where he got a silver medal in the snatch with a lift of 144kg before securing another silver medal in the total lift of 314kg.
He narrowly missed a third medal in the clean and jerk despite lifting 170kg.
Edidiong had won a silver and two bronze medals at the Tunisia 2023 edition despite competing with an injury he copped during the championship.
President of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation, Dr Ibrahim Abdul, praised the gallant efforts of the four Weightlifters who all won medals for Nigeria and have boosted their chances of picking Olympics tickets.
He said the weightlifters would return back home to commence preparation for the African Games almost immediately as Nigeria chase record outing at the championship in Ghana.
“It was a commendable performance from the four Weightlifters. They have done us proud and we are all glad with what they have achieved in Egypt,” Dr Abdul said.”We know the lifters are capable of doing more and we expect them to go full throttle at the African Games with the rest of their colleagues. We expect them to give the signal at the African Games before going to Thailand to complete the job.
“We shall proceed to camp almost immediately as they return from Egypt because the African Games is around the corner and we want to ensure we perform better than we have done in previous editions.”
Rafiat Lawal who won three gold medals in the 59kg said she was thrilled to win the medals she won last year again and that she will continue to give her best to ensure she gets the ticket to represent Nigeria at the Olympic Games where she hopes to show the world her talent.
She was full of praises to the NWF President, Dr Ibrahim Abdul whom she said his passion for the sport has made them to feel at home and aspire to conquer the world.
The Nigeria’s Weightlifters will participate in another Olympic Games Qualifier next month when the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Cup holds from March 31st through April 11th in Phuket, Thailand. It is the last qualifier before the Olympic Games.
After the last qualifier, the list of athletes that qualified for the 2024 Paris Games would be made public through the IWF World Rankings.
