The taekwondo team of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) emerge winners of the 2017 Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo Championships held in Abuja.
The two-day 2017 Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo championships, organised by the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) and sponsored by the Republic of Korea Embassy, had about 150 athletes in attendance. They were from three countries, namely: Cameroon, Niger Republic and Chad, as well as 11 Nigerian states, two clubs and the para-military.
NSCDC, who are the defending champions and have dominated the last four editions of the tournament, once again emerged as champions.
The para-military team won with three gold, one silver and four bronze medals ahead of Q-Madi Club of Lagos, which came second with one gold, one silver and one bronze.
The third position went to the Niger Republic national team, which clinched one gold and one bronze medals, with Team Lagos winning one gold medal for the fourth position.
Also, in the senior male -58 kg, Abdumujeeb Sanusi of Q-Madi Club took the gold medal, while Charles Okon of Kebbi State settled for silver.
Chukwuka Okon of Delta State and Abdufathi Sanusi of Q-Madi were joint third and took home the bronze medals.
In the senior male -80kg, Djibo Kadri of Niger Republic claimed the gold medal, while Paul Ogundele from Kebbi State finished as a silver medalist.
Raymond Tiamiyu of NSCDC and Cameroon’s Bassonyam Blaise were joint bronze winners.
Results in the senior male -68kg category, had Seyi Olowookere of Lagos State claiming the gold, while Ajayi Ifeoluwa of Q-Madi took silver.
Muhammad Lawal of Kano State and Jingri Rachiduo of Niger Republic were joint bronze medalists in the category.
In the senior male +80kg, Sunday Onofe of NSCDC took gold, while Kenneth Ogbu of Plateau State settled for the silver.
Sadiq Abdulrahman of Plateau State and Ali Mohammed of Borno State finished in the third position.
The senior female -49kg category saw Sekinat Adebayo of Kano State claiming gold, while Laadi Luiser of Nasarawa State took silver.
Adeyanju Khadijat of Ahmadu Bello University of Zaria and Faith Etokhana of Kebbi State finished as joint third.
It was a clean sweep for NSCDC in the senior female +67kg as Uzoamaka Otuadinma, Chiamaka Onumonu and Pamela Orji took the gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
Joy Ikpeamaeze of the Federal Capital Territory also finished joint-third to settle for the bronze.
Margaret Binga, the NTF President, said the event had been a huge success, adding that a lot of talents were discovered at the end of the 2017 Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo championships.
In her words:
“This event has been a huge success and it represents how emphasis on youth development will be at the core of our strategy.
In fact, the goal of my administration is simple — to add more value to taekwondo practitioners through robust programmes.
