June 13, (THEWILL) – The 22nd edition of the African Senior Athletics Championship, which concluded on Sunday in Mauritius, saw Team Nigeria finish third in the final medals table.
Nigeria finished with five gold, three silver, and three bronze medals, trailing Kenya and South Africa, which finished with ten and nine gold medals respectively. Chukwuebuka Enekwechi’s gold in the men’s Shot Put event on the penultimate day gave Nigeria an edge over fourth-placed Algeria.
Enekwechi set a new Championship record of 21.20m in the men’s Shot Put, shattering his previous best of 21.08m set four years ago in Asaba as Team Nigeria also took home the bronze in the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays on the final day of competition in Mauritius.
Deborah Oke, Queen Usunobun, Ella, and Patience Okon George beat Botswana to third place in the women’s event, while Johnson Nnamani, Chidi Okezie, Adeyemi Sikiru, and Emmanuel Ojeli won bronze in the men’s event.
The Sports Minister Sunday Dare commended the athletes saying their successes demonstrated the positive mentality of Nigerian athletes as well as their battling spirit against all odds. He said: “Despite the absence of several of our top athletes who were unable to travel to Mauritius, Team Nigeria fought valiantly and beautifully to defend our flag. We are quite proud of them.”
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
