Ese Brume saves Nigeria’s blushes, wins bronze medal

• Amusan finishes fourth in 100m hurdles
• Minister congratulates athletes, shifts focus to Tokyo 2020
Nigeria’s long wait for a medal at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, ended yesterday with Cyprus-based Ese Brume winning the bronze medal in the long jump event. It was a day Nigeria went to the championship hoping for two medals as 100 metres hurdler, Tobi Amusan was also tipped for the podium in the event. But Amusan’s best efforts could only fetch her the fourth position in the race won by United States’ Nia Ali.

Germany’s Malaika Mihambo produced the best women’s long jump of the year, and the 12th best ever when she jumped 7.30 metres to win the gold medal.
Brume would have won the silver medal but for Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk of Ukraine’s second jump, which catapulted her to the second position.She jumped 6.92m to beat Brume’s 6.91m.

The United States dominated the championships with 14 golds and 29 medals in all.Nia Ali, the Rio 2016 silver medallist, led a US one-two in the women’s 100m hurdles after drawing away from the two favourites, Jamaica’s Danielle Williams and fellow American Kendra Harrison, in the second-half of the race.

Ali finished in a personal best of 12.34sec, with Harrison, who set the world record of 12.20 three years ago, taking silver in 12.46.
Williams, the 2015 world champion who had been fastest qualifier in 12.41, took bronze in 12.47.

Meanwhile, Sports Minister, Sunday Dare has congratulated Brume for ending Nigeria’s wait for an IAAF World Championships medal after two fruitless trips to Beijing, China in 2015 and London, Great Britain in 2017.He also praised Amusan for putting up a gallant effort in the 100m hurdles after breaking 12.50 seconds three times during the championships.

“Doha. Ese Brume. Congrats and thanks for the Bronze medal. Still a champion. Also, Tobi Amusan thanks for competing with the best. Still a champion. The future is bright. Thank you for making Nigeria proud,’ Dare wrote in her twitter handle.He said that attention will now shift to preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which, he added, will not be an all-comers affair.“Tokyo 2020: Nigeria will remain focused for Tokyo because we still have medal hopefuls. We competed well in Doha. Lessons learnt. Now a laser focus on training and technical, as we prepare for the Olympics. We will concentrate only on select sports where stats show we are strong,” he tweeted.