Team Nigeria emerges All African Games champs topping the table with 14 gold medals

NIGERIA has emerged as the winner of the 15th All African Games concluding in Congo Brazzaville today having topped the medals table with an impressive haul of 38 medals with almost twice as many gold as nearest rivals South Africa.

 

Thanks mainly to a strong performance in athletics and weightlifting, Nigeria has won a total of 14 gold, 14 silver and 10 bronze medals. South Africa lies in second place with seven gold, four silver and 10 bronze medals, while Kenya is third with six gold, five silver and eight bronze medals.

 

Today, there will be a few more finals in tennis and wrestling, while tomorrow, the football and handball finals will take place but Nigeria has an unassailable lead that no one can match now.  Yesterday, Nigeria cemented her place at the top of the table by clinching three god medals in the women’s 400m hurdles, the women's 4x400m relay and the men's long jump.

 

In the women’s 400m hurdles, Amaka Ogoegbunam won with a time of 55.56 seconds, beating compatriot Ajoke Odumosu who was the defending champion to make it a Nigerian top two. Odumosu, the 2010 Commonwealth champion was seen as the favourite, especially after running the fastest time in the heats with 57.31 seconds but Ogoebunam showed she really wanted the win, getting off the blocks and crossing her barriers with zeal, leaving her opponent with no opportunity to close in.

 

In the 4x400m relays, two Nigerian teams competed with the women winning gold in 3:27.12 minutes as the quartet of Rita Ossai, Funke Oladoye, Oluwatosin Adeloye and Patience Okon raced home victors. Botswana finished  second clocking 3:32.84 minutes with Kenya taking the bronze in 3:35.91 minutes.

 

However, the Nigerian male team was not able to replicate the performance of their female counterparts, finishing fourth in a time of 3:00.34 minutes. Kenya was the surprise package in the event setting a new championship record of 3:00.34 minutes to defeat a Bostwanan team that had former 400 metres African record holder Isaac Makwala and 2014 Commonwealth 800 metres champion Nigel Amos.

 

In the women’s 200 metres final, Ngozi Onwumere and Lawretta Ozoh finished second and third with respective times of 23.24s and 23.37 seconds. They ended up behind Marie Josee Talou of Ivory Coast who won gold with a time of  22.57 seconds.

 

Ivory Coast’s Wilfried Koffi-Hua also won the men's 200 metres event with a time of 20.42 seconds, beating Nigerian Divine Oduduru who  ran a personal best  of 20.45 seconds to win Silver. Nigeria's Peter Odele Tega won bronze in 20.58 seconds, while Obinna Metu came fifth with a time of  20.74 seconds.

 

In the men's long jump, Samson Idiata, won gold with a distance of 7.83 metres, while Ezekiel Ewulo finished seventh with a mark of 7.39 metres. In the women’s shot put, Claire Eke who won the women’s discus even on Wednesday, came close to making it a double as she won silver with a mark of 16.64 metres.

 

Nigeria's football team won bronze yesterday after beating hosts Congo 5-3 in a penalty shootout after the game ended 0-0 at full time. However, the women were not so lucky, losing out 1-2 to Ivory Coast as despite taking the lead through Chiwendu Ihezuo in the 53rd minute, conceded two goals in the last seven minutes and ended up fourth.