Asaba 2018: Kenya Wins, S/Africa, Nigeria Runners-Up

Kenya on Sunday won  the 2018 African Senior Athletics Championships in Asaba, Delta State, with 11 gold, six silver and two bronze.

South Africa  came  second with nine gold, 13 silver and eight bronze while  Nigeria  took  third with nine gold, five silver and five bronze.

Morocco came  fourth with two gold, three silver and four bronze while Ethiopia took  fifth with two gold, two silver and four bronze.

Ivory Coast placed  sixth with two gold, two silver and two bronze.

Tunisia, Botswana, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Benin, Ghana, Cameroon, Swaziland, Burundi, Guinea Bissau, Uganda, Eritrea, Zambia, Liberia, Congo and Lesotho complete the table in that order.

South Africa topped  the table from the second day of the competition, with Nigeria following them closely. But  Kenya won the most medals on Sunday to win the event.

Kenyan men won seven gold and two silver while their women won four gold, four silver and two bronze. South African men won six gold, 10 silver and four bronze while their women won three gold, three silver and four bronze. Nigerian men won a gold, three silver and three bronze while the women won eight gold, two silver and two bronze.

Nigeria grabbed three gold, one silver and two bronze on the last day of the event.

Grace Anigbata won gold in the women’s triple jump with a jump of 14.06m while in the women’s 400m hurdles Glory Nathaniel became the African champion after finishing in 55.53secs.

The third gold came in the women’s 4x400m relay where  Yinka Ajayi, Folashade Abugan, Patience Okon-George and Abike Egbeniyi finished in 3:31.14 ahead of Kenya, who won silver.

NCAA 200m champion Divine Oduduru won silver for Nigeria in the event in 20.60secs. South Africa’s Ncilili Titi won gold in 20.46secs. Luxolo Adam of South Africa won bronze in 20.60secs.

Rilwan Alowonle, Orukpe Erayokan, Isah Salihu and Chidi Okezie won bronze in the men’s 4x400m relay as they finished behind Kenya and South Africa and Adams Kure won bronze in the men’s javelin, which gold was won by Kenya’s Julius Yego.

Kenya’s Elijah Manangoi  said, “We didn’t set out to win the championships but I believe the fact that we faced some tough challenges before the competition started motivated us to give our best in all the events we participated in.

“The atmosphere in Asaba was good for competition and the fans came out to cheer everyone on irrespective of the performances of the Nigerian athletes. That for me is a positive one for the competition.”