Nigeria Weightlifters have assured that the country will not play second fiddle at the African Championship slated for Tunis, Tunisia from May 11th to 20th.
The competition which serves as the 2024 Olympic qualifiers will have vie for slots to the Paris 2024 Olympics and Nigeria will be represented by two men and three women.
The athletes expected to represent Nigeria in the women category are: Olarinoye Adijat Adenike (59kg) who won gold medal at the last Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland; Lawal Rofiat Folashade (59kg) another gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games last year and Joy Eze Ogbonne (71kg) who was impressive at the 2021 IWF World Championship in Uzbekistan.
The Men are represented by
Edidong Umofia Joseph (73kg) and Desmond Akano (102kg).
The five weightlifters and Adeyemi Abayomi Vincent who was invited to camp to gain experience have been sweating it out at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos. They are accommodated at the hostel of the National Institute of Sports (NIS).
The captain of Team Nigeria, Olarinoye Adijat disclosed that the weightlifter have been training very hard and exerting themselves to ensure they perform creditably in Tunisia.
She said they are aware of the significant and technical support being rendered by the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF) President, Dr Ibrahim Abdul and that they will do all that is possible to ensure Nigeria comes tops in Tunisia.
“We have been training very hard and doing all what we can do to make Nigerians proud. We are going to Tunisia with a big dream and to be the best in our various categories,” Olarinoye told our correspondent.
“We have everything readily available for us and we can’t ask for more. The NWF President, Dr Ibrahim Abdul has been doing a lot to make us comfortable. Our Technical Director and other coaches have been doing their job too. We are in high spirit.”
The NWF President, Dr Ibrahim Abdul disclosed that all is set for the athletes and some officials that will follow them to the African Championship.
He said it will be his main target to ensure the weightlifters attend all the five Olympic Qualifiers to ensure Weightlifting presents about five athletes to represent Nigeria at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
