Nigeria Boxers, Lifters, Gymnast Bow Out Of Commonwealth Games
Five Nigeria athletes on Thursday crashed out the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Adeola Soyoye and Osita Umeh were knocked out of the boxing game while Favour Agboro and Monica Uweh also lost in weightligting games.
In men’s artistic gymnasium, Tayo Fakiyesi finished 29th in the floor exercise and 12th on the vault.
However, the country progressed in the team event of the men’s table tennis after securing two wins over Belize and Malaysia in the group stages.
Soyoye lost 5-0 to Thadius Katua of Papua New Guinea in the round of 32 of the men’s 60kg while Umeh lost 5-0 to Manoj Kumar of India in the same round of the men’s 69kg.
Agboro, who competed in the men’s 62kg, lifted 112kg in snatch and added 156kg to it in the clean and jerk to finish fifth in the event with a total of 268kg.
Malaysia’s Muhammad Bidin won gold with a total lift of 288kg while Papua New Guinea’s Morea Baru won silver with 286kg and Pakistan’s Tolha Talib won bronze with 283kg.
Uweh competed in the women’s 48kg and snatched 66kg before lifting 88kg in the clean and jerk. Her total of 154kg also earned her a fifth-place finish.
India’s Chanu Mirabai won gold in the event with a lift of 196kg, which is the new Games record, while Mauritius’ Marie Ranaivosoa won silver with 170kg and Sri Lankan Dinusha Gomes won bronze with 155kg.
Nigeria’s men’s table tennis team made up of Olajide Omotayo, Bode Abiodun and Jamiu Azeez progressed to the round of 16 after beating Belize and Malaysia 3-0 and 3-1 respectively to top Group 4.
Meanwhile, D’Tigers face New Zealand in their first men’s basketball group match on Friday. In boxing, Milicent Agboegbulem takes on Tonga’s Salote Huni in the round of 16 of the women’s 75kg.
