Favour Agboro came the closest to clinching a medal for Team Nigeria on Day 1 of the 21st Commonwealth Games taking place in Gold Coast, Australia.
While competing in the men’s 62kg final of the Weightlifting event, Agboro was able to lift a total of 268kg in both the Clean and Jerk and Snatch categories. By virtue of his lift, he had to settle for 5th place as Muhammad Bidin of Malaysia took home the GOLD.
A similar fate befell Monica Uweh who also came within a hair’s breadth of getting a medal. Uweh, who was competing in the Women’s 48kg final, placed 5th overall in the standings after lifting a cummulative weight of 154kg in the Clean and Jerk and Snatch categories.
Nigeria’s men’s Table Tennis team had a day to savour as the trio of Bode Abiodun, Olajide Omotayo and Azeez Jamiu, dominated the team from Belize in the first match of Group 4, winning by 3-0.
With more experienced players like Aruna Qaudri and Segun Toriola missing due to club engagements and should be available for the next phase, the trio brushed themselves up about seven hours later to defeat Malaysia 3-1 in the second Group game.
The duo of Osita Umeh and Adeola Soyoye who represented Nigeria in Boxing, lost 5-0 to India’s Manoj Kumar and 3-1 to Thadius Katau of Papua New Guinea in the Round of 32 of the men’s 69kg respectively. Both boxers who were making their debut at the tournament, couldn’t progress into the quarter finals.
Also, Tayo Fakiyesi who was Nigeria’s sole male representative in Gymnastics at the Games ranked 10th while competing in the Vault Category of the event. His total point tally stood at 11.900.
