Seye Ogunlewe and Enoch Adegoke were the two athletes to qualify for the final of men’s 100m as the Athletics event of the Commonwealth Games kicked off on Sunday at the Carrara Stadium in Gold Coast, Australia.
Ogunlewe, who is the reigning Nigerian 100m Champion, equalled his Season’s Best (SB) of 10.20s, which he set earlier in the day while running in the heats, to place 3rd in Semifinal 3, thereby qualifying as one of the fastest losers in his heat.
In the same vein, Enoch Adegoke, who was making his debut for Nigeria at an international competition, won the second semis in a time of 10.24s. The sprinter had previously set a new Personal Best (PB) of 10.19s as he won his heat.
However, Ogho-Oghene Egwero couldn’t make it into tomorrow’s final after placing 6th in a time of 10.42s. The final comes up by 1:15pm on Monday, April 9th.
The trio of Jennifer Madu, Isoken Igbinosun and Joy Udo-Gabriel shared a similar fate as they did not progress beyond the semi-finals of the women’s 100m race.
Making of Champions athlete, Udo-Gabriel, who was making her international debut for Nigeria, came closest to qualifying after clocking a time of 11.53s to place 4th in her semis, as Christania Williams of Jamaica won in 11.22s.
Nevertheless, it would still be a great way to end her individual campaign after she astonishingly chucked off 0.23s from her previous PB as she crossed the line to finish 2nd in her heat.
Also, Jennifer Madu crossed the line in 5th in a time of 11.59s as Isoken Igbinosun clocked a time of 11.85s to place 7th, in their respective semis.
In the men’s 400m Heats, Chidi Okezie and Samson Nathaniel both qualified for the semi-finals after they clocked times of 45.84s and 46.41s respectively. However, Orukpe Erayokan, who still remains the last Nigerian to run a sub-45s, placed 4th in his heat and didn’t progress into the semis.
Earlier in the day, National Record (NR) holder in the 20km race walk, Fadekemi Olude, finished 10th as she stopped the clock at 1:49:31. Australia’s Jemima Montag claimed the GOLD medal in a time of 1:32:50.
On the field, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi qualified for the men’s Shot Put final after he threw a mark of 20.66m to place 2nd behind New Zealand’s Tom Walsh who set a Games Record (GR) of 22.45 to win. It was not the same for Eke Kalu as he threw a mark of 17.62m as he finished 5th in the second qualifying group.
In Boxing, which was the only other event Team Nigeria competed in on the day, Nigeria’s Itunu Oriola’s lost 4-1 by decision to Australia’s Kaye Scott in the women’s 69kg quarterfinals, with the five judges scoring the fight 30-27, 29-28,29-28,30-27 and 20-27.
