Nigeria’s Yakubu Adesokan on Tuesday won the first power lifting gold medal for the country and set new world record in the 49kg class at the ongoing 11th African Games in Brazzaville.
Adesokan lifted 182.5 kg in his third attempt to win the gold medal.
Algeria won the silver medal in the event.
Adesokan won silver medal at the recently concluded Open Asia Championship held in Kazhastan.
“I am excited, I can’t thank God enough for this is the result of hard work and focus.
“After the Asia champion which won silver medal, I gave myself personal target of gold medal at the All Africa Games, and with God held I was able to fulfil my target,” Adesokan said.
He said that his next target is to win gold in the 2016 Rio Olympic.
Adesokan, however, commended the National sports Commission for the preparation ahead of the Games.
“I must thank my coach, Feyisetan Are, for believing in me and training me toward achieving this feat, he was like a father to all us.
“I want to call on the NSC to allow us start the preparation for the 2016 Olympic early, because with good preparation is the limit for us, we have want it take to be world champions,” Adenekan said.
Another Nigeria Latifat Tijani in the 45kg lifted 98kg to also won a gold medal and set new Africa record.
Ben Isini won silver 41kg 90, he lost the gold medal to Egyptian who lifted 92kg.
Feyisetan Are, power lifting national coach said that the with the result the athletes were just keep to their promised to the nation of good performance in the Games.
“I am happy with their, we just taking part in three events this morning and we won two gold and one silver, is a sign of good thing to happen in the competition.
“We promised Nigeria a good outing and the athletes are living up to the promised they made to the nation.
“We our aim is to win at least 11 gold medal, is just two more are still coming,” Are said.
Tag: 2015 All Africa Games
-
AAG: Adesokan wins gold, sets new world record in Power lifting
-
AAG: Nigeria to battle Egypt for T/Tennis gold
The rivalry between Nigeria and Egypt will resurface again in Brazzaville as the two best table tennis playing nations clash in the final of the team events at the ongoing 11th African Games in Congo Brazzaville.
In the men’s event, Nigeria’s team was on Saturday merciless against Ghana as they rattled their West African neighbor 3-0 in the semifinal to set up a battle against Egypt in the final.
In the women’s event, Nigerian ladies dazed host team Congo Brazzaville 3-0 to secure their place in the final. They will now face Egypt who had earlier defeated Algeria in the second semifinal.
Acknowledging the superiority of Nigeria, Ghana’s Bernard Sam said: “It was not an easy match against Nigeria because they are very experienced and it really showed in the match. We had thought we could do what we did to Congo Brazzaville against them but before we reaised it was 2-0. We then knew that they are superior to us. We hope Nigeria win the gold being our brother from the West.”
Also, Sam’s compatriot, Derek Abreka said: “For me playing against Aruna was a good experience for me because his balls are very powerful and I can now say that Aruna is a great player. This is the second time I would be playing against him as the first was in Congo DRC in 2008 where he defeated me 3-1. His forehand is very powerful and his shots are superb. I look forward to him winning the singles.
However, Nigeria’s Seun Ajetunmobi believes Nigeria would be unstoppable in the final. “I feel good since the commencement of the tournament although we are yet to play any tough match. We really prepared very well for this competition and we hope that we can crown it up with victory against any team in the final. We are aware that the final will be tough and we are battle ready for it. I believe Nigeria will surprise everybody in this competition,” Ajetunmobi admits. -
AAG: Nigeria qualifies for semifinal in table tennis
Nigeria’s women team continues their good run in table tennis at the 11th African Games after beating Ethiopia 3-0 in the quarterfinal early morning of Saturday September 12
The trio of Olufunke Oshonaike, Edem Offiong and Cecilia Otu-Akpan bashed the Ethiopian ladies to secure a place in the last four where are expected to battle host Congo Brazzaville.
The Congolese team with their acquired Chinese players will be hoping to turn the table against the west African giant in the semifinal match holding later this evening (Saturday September 12) at the Revolution Hall in Brazzaville.
The Nigerian team is full of confidence going into the match having maintained 100 percent record in all their matches in the competition.
-
2015 All Africa Games: Egypt, Algeria camp in China for Nigeria
In readiness for Nigeria at the 2015 All Africa Games, Egypt and Algeria are at present in China honing their skills in table tennis for the multi-sports championship in Congo Brazzaville.
After dominating the just concluded ITTF Africa Senior Cup in Cameroon, Egypt returned to Asia this week to continue with their build-up under the tutelage of their Chinese coach.
Also, 15 Algerian players were sighted at a training camp in Shanghai under the watchful of their French technical adviser, Cedric Rouleau.
For the Egyptians, this year’s games hope to be excited as Omar Assar, El-Sayed Lashin and Mohammed El-Beiali as well as Dina Meshref and Nadeen El-Dawlatly are in the best form of their lives considering their performance at the Cameroon tournament.
Before the Cameroon competition, the Egyptian team has embarked on a one month training tour in China and they have also decided to return to perfect their skills for the games.
Unlike their Egyptian counterparts, Algeria were camped in Algiers for the Cameroon championship and having seen their level during the ITTF Africa Senior Cup, the team moved to China to continue their training as well.
Host – Congo Brazzaville will also be rounding up their one-year training tour of China this month having perfected formalities for the engagement of their Chinese players who are also expected to feature for the Central African region during the championship.
Vice President, Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Olabanji Oladapo told NationSport Tuesday that Nigeria must brace up if its hopes to clinch any medal in Brazzaville.
“I don’t think we should be relaxed this year because with what I saw at the Cameroon championship, it is clear that everybody is after Nigeria. They all know that we are capable of springing surprises and I am sure they know that they have to be at their best to overcome Nigeria. I know we have the quality in terms of talents, but we just need to harness these talents to achieve the optimum results in Brazzaville. I believe that with a technically sound coach, we can do better in Brazzaville and this I believe is the only way we can perform beyond every expectation,” Oladapo said.
-
Ahead 2015 All Africa Games: Presidency delays preparations
Exactly 73 days to the kick off of the 11th All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville, Nigeria’s build-up to the multi-sports championship is at present in limbo even as the National Sports Commission (NSC) awaits release of funds from the Presidency.
SportingLife learnt yesterday that the official camping of Team Nigeria was earlier scheduled for this month but it has not materialised following the inability of NSC to secure the necessary funds to commence the camping of the athletes.
NSC had recently issued a statement ruling out overseas camping of athletes for the games citing paucity of funds.
In a statement issued and signed by the commission’s deputy director, press, Stephen Nelson, the decision to cancel foreign tours was reached at its ministerial technical meeting, adding that camping programmes would commence mid-June and will be restricted to a maximum of three camp sites for effective management and coordination.
Also recently the commission through its Ministerial Technical Committee (MTC) proposed Abuja, Lagos and Ibadan for athletes camping.
But as the month of June winds up, there is nothing suggesting that the camping would commence in earnest.
A source told SportingLife that late appointment of substantive sports minister may have caused the delay as there is no link to get across to the Presidency in order to request for funds.
“The previous government under President Goodluck Jonathan released some funds to the commission before the end of its tenure to kick-start the camping of athletes for the All Africa Games, but the commission has been indebted to a lot of contractors. They decided to settle some of the outstanding owed the contractors while some federations were also settled. So this has made the commission not to have enough to start the camping. Also, the late appointment of principal officers of the Presidency as well as the substantive minister may have also taken its toll on the commission, as there is nobody to approach in order to secure funds for the camping,” the source who pleaded anonymity said.
He however added that most of the federations have decided to continue with their training while some of them like the weightlifting and judo are going ahead with their trials for the championships.
At the 2011 All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, Nigeria finished third with 31 gold, 28 silver and 39 bronze medals behind South Africa and Egypt, which finished first and second respectively on the overall medal table.