Paralympians catapult Nigeria to 10th in Commonwealth Games medals table with four gold medals

NIGERIA has picked up four para powerlifting gold medals in the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Australia as the country's Paralympians once more prove to be her best athletes catapulting the nation to ninth in the medals table.

Earlier today, the trio of Roland Ezuruike, Esther Oyema and Ndidi Nwosu all won gold medals in the para-powerlifting events at the tournament taking place in Gold Coast, Australia. Also, the duo of Paul Kehinde and Lucy Kehinde won silver medals each in the men and women’s events.

Contesting in the men’s lightweight final, Ezuruike became the first Nigerian to claim a gold medal at this tournament with a lift of 224.3kg. In that same event, the silver medal went to his compatriot Kehinde who lifted 219.9kg, while Ali Jawad lifted 182.7kg to win the bronze medal for

In the women’s lightweight event, Onyema made a lift of 141.6kg to create a new world record. Ejike claimed the silver medal with a lift of 134.1kg and Zoe Newson from England took the bronze medal with a lift of 106.1 kg.

Abdulazeez Ibrahim won gold in the men's heavyweight 72kg final lifting 191.9kg to beat Malaysia's Yee Khie Jong and India's Sachin Chaudhary. Meanwhile, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi won a silver medal for Nigeria in the men’s shot put with a best throw of 21.14m behind Tomas Walsh of New Zealand, who won gold with 21.41m.

Also in the women’s heavyweight, Nwosu emerged tops with a lift of 110.4kg to finish ahead of Louis Sudgen of England (89.2kg) and Joyce Njuguna of Kenya (89.0kg). Team Nigeria has now won four gold and four silver medals and is10th in the medals table.