Femi Solaja
23 May 2008
Lagos — Determined to ensure that Nigerian weightlifters make good impression at the Olympic Games in Beijing in August, the National Sports Commission (NSC) yesterday in Abuja showered the victorious team to the just concluded African qualifying tournament in South Africa with hard currencies .
The Secretary General of Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF), Steve Olarinoye disclosed to THISDAYSports in a telephone interview that the NSC was impressed with the performance of the team which explains why the contingent was received officially instead of being asked to go on recess till they resume for next stage of camping for the games.
"The athletes were delighted with the reception and it has created a lasting impression on them that deserving sports men and women would be dully rewarded for their actions and in appreciation of the incentives given to them, most of the potential medallists for the games have vowed to double their efforts in order to win the ultimate laurel in Beijing," Olarinoye said.
According to him, the NSC gave $2500 (about N292,500) each gold medallists while those that won silver earned $2000 about N234,000 and $1500 (N175,500) paid to all bronze winners.
Similarly, all the remaining participants without medals were rewarded with $1000 each for their efforts. The three accompanying coaches were given $3000 each (about N350,000) while other officials like the leader of delegation and 1st Vice President of the federation, Navy Captain Babatunde Ademeji (rtd) and the federation scribe, Olarinoye were left out of the wind fall.
The team came tops at the qualifier concluded last weekend in with 22 gold, 9 silver and 4 bronze medals. Among the gold medallists is Emmanuel Akpaobong (56kg) who set a new African record of 106 kg lift as against 105 set two years ago.Other gold medallists are Gbenga Olupona (62kg), Felix Ekpo (77kg) while the female winners are Fidelis Chineye, a new comer in 48kg category, Patience Lawal (53kg), Juliet Okoebor (75kg), Hadiza Zakare, who won three gold medals in 75kg and Mariam Usman in +75 category.She also broke African record in snatch event.
In all 17 lifters comprising of eight males and nine females represented the country at the qualifying tournament.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
