Team Nigeria added two more GOLD medals to their tally on Day 2 of the ongoing Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa, winning the Girls’ and Boys’ 4x200m relay races on Tuesday ahead of host nation, Samoa.
The quartet of Precious Ojeikere, Ese Itsekiri, Idjesa Uruemu and Sikiru Adeyemi clocked 1:28.35 to win the Boys’ 4x200m relay race, while Blessing Adiakerehwa, Omotayo Abolaji, Aniekeme Alphonsus and Uche Brown returned a time of 1:41.60 to take the victory in the Girls’ category.
Idamadudu won a Bronze medal in the Girls’ 400m where she posted 53.20s, behind Jamaica’s Junelle Bromfield (53.09s) and Jisna Matthew (53.14s) of India.
African Junior Champion, Karabo Sibanda won the Boys’ event. The Botswana athlete clocked 45.83s to take GOLD, while Walton Jamal of Cayman Islands (46.46s) and Indian Bauri Chandan (46.99s) followed with Silver and Bronze respectively. Nigeria’s Sikiru Adeyemi placed 4th in 47.69s.
Uche Brown competed in the Girls’ Long Jump where she placed 5th overall with a distance of 5.77m. South Africa’s Renate Monika Van Tonder won the event with 6.26m as Australia’s Arch Billie followed with 6.04m, while Rachel Alexander (5.90m) and Savannah Peterkin (5.86m) finished 3rd and 4th respectively.
The heats of the Girls’ and Boys’ 200m took place on Tuesday with Idamadudu and Alphonsus clocking the two fastest times overall to qualify for the semis on Wednesday; the final will also take place on the same day. Idamadudu ran a time of 23.56s while 100m Commonwealth Youth Silver medallist in the 100m, Alphonsus posted 23.71s.
The Nigerians are favoured to dominate the 200m considering that Idamadudu is the reigning Nigerian and African junior champion over the distance, while Alphonsus picked the Bronze medal in the event at the African Junior Championships in Ethiopia earlier in the year.
Boys’ 100m finalist, Uruemu finished 5th in the heats of the 200m, which saw him being eliminated from the semis. However team mate, Ese Itsekiri (21.57s) narrowly made the cut, having finished 4th in his heat. South Africa’s Gift Leotlela will be aiming to make it a double ahead of the final, having taken GOLD in the 100m on Monday.
Ojeikere qualified for the Boys’ 110m Hurdles and will compete in the final on Wednesday. Also competing on the final of Track and Field are the Boys’ and Girls’ 4x100m relay teams. The country will go against Samoa, Botswana, England and Australia in the male event while their female compatriots will battle against Australia, Samoa and England.
In other events, Nigeria’s Appah Emmanuel Inemo picked a Silver medal in the 62kg category in the men’s Weightlifting event. He made a lift of 236kg to follow India’s Deepak Lather who lifted 258kg to win GOLD. Chris Murray took the bronze medal with 201kg.
Nigeria currently sits on 7th position on the medals table with 4 GOLD, 2 Silver and a Bronze medal. Australia is tops the table with 11 GOLD, 7 Silver and 10 Bronze medals. They are followed by South Africa (7 GOLD, 2 Silver and 6 Bronze), England (5 GOLD, 8 Silver and 7 Bronze), New Zealand (4 GOLD, 5 Silver and 2 Bronze medals) and India (4 GOLD, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze medals).
