Team Nigeria wins 12 medals at African para-powerlifting championships

Team Nigeria, at the weekend, won nine gold and three silver medals, totalling 12 medals at the just concluded African Open Championships in Cairo, Egypt.

The country’s athletes at the competition set three worlds and two African records in the competition that featured over 166 athletes (104 male, 62 female) from 27 countries. They competed in 10 weight classes.

Nigeria also won a gold medal in the women’s team event, but it was, however, not recorded on the medals table.

Speaking on the team’s accomplishment, yesterday, Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare, commended the athletes’ impressive display.

“The performance of our contingent underlines the country’s status as a leading force in para-powerlifting and our strong winning culture and competitive mentality.

“We must not take things for granted or rest on our oars because other countries are beginning to focus more on this sport to knock us off our stride.

We must keep improving and never stop developing new strategies that will keep us at this level of dominance and even go higher as the sport evolves and new rules and techniques are developed,” he said.