NSF 2020: Tonjor Leads Edo To Win Gold In Swimming, Delta Wins 400m Hurdles Gold
Nigeria’s Olympic swimmer, Rachael Tonjor has led Team Edo to win a gold medal in the 4x100medley relay women.
The feat brings their total number of gold in swimming to four at the national sports festival, a huge improvement from their performance at the Abuja 2018 games where they failed to win a medal.
Edo were stripped of medals in Abuja as a result of the double registration of their captain Tonjor and Faith Edorodion.
Team delta finished second in the event while Bayelsa claimed Bronze in the event.
In weightlifting, Rivers state showed class in the 49kg event as Stella Kingsley dominated the snatch, clean, and jerk class to claim all three gold medals.
In the snatch, Kingsley lifted her first attempt without struggle, failed in the second but bounced back in the 3rd to win gold. In the clean and jerk, she was outstanding, lifting the 92, 200, and 105 weight effortlessly.
She has made admirable improvement after failing to win a medal at the 2018 edition in Abuja, finishing in a disappointing 4th position in her weight class.
Ruth Nyang finished second for team Akwa Ibom while Augustina Nwokolo secured a bronze medal for team Delta.
More track & field events happened today and in the men’s 400m hurdles, Timothy Emeoghene sets a new National Sports Festival record and a Personal Best of 50.06 seconds to win gold for Team Delta
The current national champion surpassed the previous festival record of 51.07 seconds set by David Olowookere at the Abuja games in 2018.
Henry Okorie from Edo claimed silver in a season’s best of 51.73 seconds while Stephen Eloji of Niger State settled for bronze in a time of 52.12 seconds.
For the women, reigning National Champion Abasiono Akpan dominated the race crossing the finish line with a personal best of 57.63 seconds to win gold for Akwa Ibom state.
She took off 0.03 seconds from her previous lifetime best set at the 2019 African Games in Morocco where she won bronze.
Comfort Ekanem ran 58.68 seconds to secure silver for Oyo state while Sarah Ochigbo representing Ogun state set a season’s best of 58.91 seconds to claim the bronze medal.
Edo state’s shot put gold medallist, Orobosa Frank is working hard to achieve her ambition of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
She threw a distance of 16.82m to win her first gold medal at the National sports festival.
Team Delta’s Eucharia Ogbukwo won Silver with a throw of 14.02m while Aniefuna Anulika threw 13.80m to secure bronze for Anambra state.
On day 2 of the track & field events, Edo state ruled the men’s 100m winning the gold and silver medals. Enoch Adegoke clocked 10.28 seconds to win gold while Alaba Olukunle clinched silver for Edo in a time of 10.29 seconds while Jerry Jakpa finished in 10.32 seconds to win Bronze for Lagos state.
For the women, Grace Nwokocha won Gold for Delta in a time of 11.42 seconds. Joy Udo-Gabriel clocked 11.44 seconds to win silver for team Lagos while Tima Godbless ran 11.61 seconds to win bronze for Bayelsa state.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, Team Rivers clinched gold after Grace Aiyemoba clocked a season’s best of 13.65 seconds. The gold medal is an upgrade from the Silver she won at Abuja 2018.
Miracle Thompson won silver for team Lagos in 13.75 seconds, a new personal best for her while Team Delta settled for the bronze medal after Kemi Francis finished third in 14.01 seconds.
