Team Nigeria, on Friday, topped the medals table on Day One of the 2026 Commonwealth Games after harvesting three gold and three silver medal.

All the medals came from para powerlifting.

The biggest surprise of the day came ftom Riluwan Idris, who powered his way to a magnificent gold medal in the Men’s Heavyweight event, extending Nigeria’s remarkable run at the SEC Armadillo.

Nobody gave Idris any chance of picking up a gold medal considering the calibre of lifters ahead of him.

But the Kano born Idris produced a commanding display throughout the competition, finishing with 132.8 points to clinch the Commonwealth title ahead of England’s Matthew Harding, who settled for silver with 131.0 points. Malaysia’s Nicodemus Manggoi Moses completed the podium with 120.3 points.

The defending champion, India’s Sudhir, finished fourth on 114.1 points.

While other gold medallist got instant cash reward of $5,000, Idris was rewarded with $10,000 by the National Sports Commission.

Speaking with The Guardian, the Director-General of the NSC, Bukola Olopade said; “While we were doing our projection on the number of gold for the opening day, we did not include Idris. But the Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko threw a challenge before Idris that he will increase his cash reward to $10,000 if he wins the gold. This is aside the $5,000 that will go into his account, meaning Idris has pocketed $15,000. That is the power of motivation,” Olopade said.