Three Nigerian athletes were in action in Day two of the ongoing 2015 World Championships in Beijing. Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor eased to victory in her 100m heat on Sunday, winning with a time of 11.07s to book her place in the women’s semi-final at the ongoing 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
Starting in heat 2, Okagbare who is considered as one of the major contenders for the 100m title, saw off the challenge of Jamaica’s Natasha Morrison who was 2nd in 11.08s and Kazkhatan’s Viktoriya Zyabkina 3rd in 11.24s.
Unlike in the past when Okagbare put in enormous effort in the heats, she seemed to have learned from experience with the former Nigerian champion, competing in her third World Championships competition, taking it coolly with the knowledge that the bigger race will come up tomorrow.
The commonwealth champion will be hoping to bring honour to her country in the final on Monday, and to also prove some of her critics wrong, as some perceive her not to be a Championship athlete.
Competing in heat 5 of the women’s 400m Hurdles, national champion Amaka Ogoegbunam finished 7th, clocking a time of 58.16s. Jamaica’s Janieve Russell won the race in 55.09s, with Czech Republic’s Denisa Rosolova 2nd in 55.33s. Petra Fontanive was 3rd in 56.40s.
Ogoegbunam a Silver medallist at the last African Championships, will now set her sights on the All African Games in Congo Brazzaville and hopefully finish on the podium.
In the Heptathlon, Uhunoma Osazuwa gave Nigeria a good representation, finishing a respectable 18th overall, after scoring 5951 points. Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill won GOLD with 6669 points, with Canada’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton winning Silver after scoring 6554 points. Latvia’s Laura Ikauniece Admidina set a new National Record (NR) 6516 points.
Osazuwa the Nigerian NR holder, competed in three events and would be happy running a new Personal Best (PB) in the 800m where she finished 4th in 2:21.36. She came 2nd in group B of the Long Jump with 6.21m, scoring 915 points, and 10th in the Javelin.
This is Osazuwa’s debut at the Worlds, and she did that having come back after a two-year break from the sport. Being an All African Games Silver medallist, she could be in for Gold when the competition comes up in September.
With Okagbare competing in Day three, it could be that Nigeria’s time to get on the medal’s table has come.
