September 03, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, was on hand to officially welcome back the first batch of the Paralympics’ contingent of Team Nigeria to the country from their successes at the 2020 Games held in Tokyo Japan.
In the company of the Special Assistant on Sports to President Muhammadu Buhari, Daniel Amokachi, the Minister treated the country’s athletes to a rousing welcome back home after they arrived in Lagos aboard an Ethiopian Airline flight.
The athletes, who were mostly powerlifters, were also cheered on by some fans and journalists, who were present to appreciate their exploits at the Games in Nigeria’s honour.
The brief but heartfelt reception in their honour was held at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport upon their arrival. The reception allowed Dare and Amokachi to extol the athletes for giving their best and doing the nation proud.
The Minister rightfully commended the athletes for competing fairly and holding their own against some of the best Paralympians in the world while demonstrating the stuff they were made of. He said: “You have done us proud. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is happy with you. Nigerians are happy with you and all we can say now to all of you is ‘thank you’.
“It is not just about the colour of medals around your necks. Whether you have a medal round your necks or not. You have demonstrated that you have great abilities in spite of your challenges.”
“You should also be happy and proud of yourselves. You broke records, set some new world records, received standing ovations many times and held your own against the best and kept your heads up.”
Dare did not miss the opportunity to highlight the overall achievements the country’s athletes have registered recently.
He said: “In six weeks we have seen Nigeria participate in three global international competitions, from the Olympics, to the world athletics championship in Nairobi, Kenya and the Paralympics.
”And we have seen almost a total of seventeen to eighteen medals, which show that sports in this country has hit a new trajectory, a trajectory in which we are going to produce some of the best talents and athletes in the world.”
However, back in Tokyo on Thursday, Eucharia Iyiazi added to Team Nigeria’s medal tally at the Paralympic Games with a bronze medal finish in the women’s seated F57 class shot put event with a season best throw of 10.40 metres to finish third.
A new world record was beaten in the class event by Algeria’s Safia Djelal, who is the world and Paralympic record-holder in the F56 class. She threw 11.29m to win the gold medal, while China’s Xu Milan heaved 10.81m to finish second for a silver for the Chinese.
After the bronze podium finish for Iyiazi, Nigeria’s medal haul came up to three gold, one silver and four bronze medals in all. The total left Nigeria in 32nd place on the medals table for the Paralympics Games.
The highest placed African country was Algeria, in 26th place, with four gold, two silver and four bronze medals for a total of 10, while Tunisia is just above Nigeria in 29th place, with three gold, four silver and two bronze medals, for a total of nine medals in all.
Nigeria has a chance to add to the medals collected so far on Saturday and move up the table when Flora Ugwunwa competes in the final of the Women’s Javelin Throw F54 class event. Ugwunwa, who won the gold medal in the women’s F54 event at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, also set a new world record of 20.25m at this event.
About the Author
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.
