Category: Sports

Nigerian weightlifters have won 18 medals in the 2017 African Junior/Youths Weightlifting Championship in Uganda.

The President of Nigeria Weightlifting Federation, Mohammed Yahaya, disclosed that the weightlifters were the products of the 2017 National Youth Games in Ilorin.

In his words:

“I am very happy with the results of the competition because our weightlifters worked hard and made us proud. We won a total of 18 medals in all; 13 gold, four silver and one bronze.

We won nine gold medals in the female categories on the first day of the competition and we finally won up 18 medals at the end of the Championship.

With this performance, we have a chance to participate in next year’s Commonwealth Games.

We need to participate in one more Championship to meet the requirements of the World Weightlifting Federation.

Nigerian weightlifting Grade 2 referees were promoted to Grade 1 Category. They are: Nurudeen Suleiman (Bauchi), Evelyn Okuofor (Edo), and Bilkisu Musa (Jigawa).

They passed both the theory and the practical examination during the Championship; they are now recognised by the Africa and the World Weightlifting Federation.”

Nigeria Table Tennis players have won six medals at the 2017 ITTF Circuit Junior and Cadet Open in Cairo, Egypt.

Mati Taiwo won two gold and one bronze in the cadet single, mini Cadet singles and team event respectively.

Tosin Oribamishe on her part won one gold and one bronze in the female singles and team events while Azeez Solanke won a bronze medal in the team event at the Sharm El Sheik.

Mati Taiwo dedicated his victory to his coach, the NTTF Federation and those that believed in him. According to him:

“It is an honour wearing the jersey of Nigeria. This victory is not for me but for those that believe in my ability.”

Tosin Oribamishe also expressed her delight to be in Egypt and winning medals for the country. She promised continual training ahead of the 2018 Olympic Youth Games. Oribamishe is the only table tennis player to have qualified for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Argentina.

Akwa United have emerged as champions of the maiden AITEO Cup after claiming a 3-2 penalty win over Niger Tornadoes at Agege Stadium, Lagos.

The AITEO Cup was formerly the Federation Cup, which Akwa United won in 2015.

It was goalless all through the 90 minutes and the game went straight to penalty kicks.

With their win, Akwa United receives ₦25 million and would also be representing Nigeria in the CAF Confederation Cup.

On their part, Niger Tornadoes, who eliminated defending champions, FC Ifeanyi Ubah, to make it to the Lagos final receives ₦10 million.

Aruna Quadri has won the men’s singles event of the 2017 ITTF Challenge Polish Open.

The Nigerian defeated Japan’s Kaii Yoshida after six sets (11-7, 11-13 11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 14-12) to become the first African to win an ITTF title outside the continent.

Although Quadri’s opponent enjoyed support from the home fans — as he plies his trade in the Polish league — the number one seed for the tournament emerged the victor.

Prior to beating the Japanese in the final, Aruna Quadri had defeated Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko (11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 11-6) in the semi-final stage of the competition.

Aruna Quadri is among the top 20 players in the world that will compete at the prestigious ITTF World Cup in Liege, Belgium from October 20-22, 2017.

Access Bank Lagos City Marathon has been awarded the IAAF Bronze Label by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF).

A statement signed by the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon Head of Communications and Media Olukayode Thomas disclosed that among the thousands of races worldwide, only 88 are labeled by IAAF, Access Bank Lagos City Marathon is one of the new additions to the elite club. With this feat, Access Bank Lagos City Marathon has now joined global elite races like New York, Boston, Chicago, Tokyo, Dubai, London, Roma, Paris, Berlin, and others.

According to the Project Consultant Olopade:

“We are a global brand today because of Governor Ambode’s vision and foresight, without him there won’t be anything called Access Bank Lagos City Marathon. It is his support that ensured that we got a personality like Norris Williamson, a grade A IAAF/AIMS measurer, who measured the route of Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics Games to measure and certify our route, which ensured that we are a label race before our third edition.’’

Olopade also thanked Access Bank the race sponsor and other sponsors and supporters like 7Up, Bet naija, Eko Hotels, Eko Atlantics, GAC Motors and the staff of the Marathon Office for making this achievement possible.

IAAF label races are races that are designate as leading road races around the world. It was first introduced for the 2008 race. The conditions for the award of IAAF label are stringent they include but not limited to an international elite field, the race course closed to vehicular traffic, route measured to the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) standard, use of electronic timing to generate the results, a specified number of doping tests, equal prize money for the participants and others.

Stanley Eribo (also known as “Edo Boy”) has retained his African Boxing Union, ABU welterweight title by defeating Tanzania’s Ramadhani Shauri via a unanimous decision at GOtv Boxing Night 12.

Stanley Eribo also won ₦2.5 million attached to the Mojisola Ogunsanya Memorial Prize for the best boxer of the night.

Continue reading Stanley Eribo Retains 2017 ABU Welterweight Title