•Delta, Edo, Kano shine too
National Sports Festival, Ogun 2024 Reports
By Amaechi Agbo, reporting From Abeokuta, Ogun State Capital
T
eam Bayelsa swept most of the gold medals on offer- nine on the final day of hostilities of the Weightlifting event at the ongoing Ogun 2024 National Sports Festival held at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Shagamu to further exert their superiority in the sport.
Team Delta captured three gold medals; Team Edo got two gold while Kano got the remaining solitary gold medal in the five weight classes of Women’s +87kg, Men’s 96kg, Men’s 102kg, Men’s 109kg and Men’s +109kg competed for on Wednesday.
In the Women’s +87kg Caroline Albert of Team Bayelsa bagged three gold medals in the snatch with her 100kg lift, Clean & Jerk 120kg lift and combine total of 220kg lift while Sandra Ndukwe of Rivers and Joy Yakubu of Benue scooped three silver and three bronze medals in that order in the same weight class.
Desmond Akano of Team Delta retained the three gold medals he won at the last National Sports Festival held in Asaba, Delta State in the Men’s 96kg. He lifted 141kg in the snatch; 180kg in the Clean & Jerk and 321 total to secure the gold medals for his state.
Still in the Men’s 96kg Dirisu Oseni (Team Edo) got a silver medal in the Snatch (128kg) and two bronze medals in the Clean & Jerk (157kg) and total (285kg) with Marvellous Robinson of Team Niger sealing two silver medals in the Clean & Jerk (158kg) and total lift of 285kg while Solomon Chinedu of Cross River finished with a bronze medal with the lift of 128kg in the snatch.
In the Men’s 102kg, Adeyemi Abayomi of Team Bayelsa added three more gold medals with a total lift of 315kg comprising the lift of 140kg in the snatch and 175kg in the Clean & Jerk.
Bauchi’s Mohammed Isyaku got a silver in the snatch with a lift of 121kg; Team Imo’s Ebubechi Onyedikachi Akosa got a silver in the Clean & Jerk with a lift of 150kg while Team Ekiti’s Tope Oluwafemi bagged a silver with his total lift of 265kg. He also got a bronze in the snatch with his lift of 120kg. Stephen Samuel of Team Plateau got two bronze medals in the Clean & Jerk and total.
Team Edo’s Daniel Abdulihen turned heads in the Men’s 109kg with two gold and a silver medal. He captured the gold lifting 164kg in the Clean & Jerk to beat Jamiu Yahaya Abdullahi of Kano who got a silver with his lift of 162kg. Abdullahi also got another bronze medal for Kano with his total lift of 297kg.
Abdulihen won another gold with his total lift of 301kg. He had earlier claimed a silver medal with his lift of 137kg to finish second behind Lucky Orobosa of Team Kano who got the gold with 147kg.
