Joy Ogbonne Eze capped up an outstanding effort for ‘Team Nigeria’ Weightlifters in the just completed Egypt 2024 African Senior Weightlifting Championship by winning all three gold medals available in the 71kg women’s division on Wednesday in Ismaila, Egypt.
Her three-gold rush brought ‘Team Nigeria’s total to 11 medals, including a whopping six gold and five silver medals, surpassing their performance in Tunisia last year.
Eze won a gold medal in the snatch with a lift of 104 kg and another in the clean and jerk with a lift of 130kg. The weightlifter completed a clean sweep with the third gold medal, lifting 234kg in total.
Notably Eze’s three gold medals has moved her up to the top 12 in the Olympic qualification ranking in her weight class. Lawal, Olarinoye and Edidiong are closing in on Olympic Games tickets too with their performance in Ismaila, Egypt. Only the top 10 athletes will make it to the Olympic Games in Paris, France come July this year.
Recall that Rafiat Lawal claimed three gold medals in the 59kg while Adijat Olarinoye bagged three silver medals in the same 59kg. Umoafia Edidiong picked up two silver medals in the Men’s 73kg before the crowning glory from Joy Ogbonne Eze, who failed to secure any medal last year in Tunisia due to some technical errors.
Speaking with NWF Media, the President of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation, Dr Ibrahim Abdul praised the gallant efforts of the four Weightlifters who all won medals for Nigeria and have boosted their chances of picking Olympics tickets.
He said the weightlifters would return back home to commence preparation for the African Games almost immediately as Nigeria chase record outing at the championship in Ghana.
“It was a commendable performance from the four weightlifters. They have done us proud and we are all glad with what they have achieved in Egypt,” Dr Abdul told NWF Media.
“We know the lifters are capable of doing more and we expect them to go full throttle at the African Games with the rest of their colleagues. We expect them to give the signal at the African Games before going to Thailand to complete the job.
“We shall proceed to camp almost immediately as they return from Egypt because the African Games is around the corner and we want to ensure we perform better than we have done in previous editions.”
Nigeria’s contingent made up of four Weightlifters, four officials and three coaches: Janet Ali, Abdulsalam Kayode and Onubaye Sefiat and a referee: Lawrence Iquaibom will arrive in Nigeria on Thursday.
The Nigeria’s Weightlifters will participate in another Olympic Games Qualifier next month when the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Cup holds from March 31st through April 11th in Phuket, Thailand. It is the last qualifier before the Olympic Games.
After the last qualifier, the list of athletes that qualified for the 2024 Paris Games would be made public through the IWF World Rankings.
