Chukwuebuka Enekwechi and the men’s Table Tennis team won Nigeria her first set of medals on Day 5 of the Commonwealth Games taking place in Gold Coast, Australia, as they both clinched Silver medals in their respective events.
The men’s Table Tennis team which consisted of the trio of Segun Toriola, Bode Abiodun and Olajide Omotayo, had earlier in the day soared past Team England in the semis, before losing 3-0 to the Indian Team in the final, thereby settling for the Silver medal.
Enekwechi on his part, became the first individual Track and Field medallist for the country after his impressive showing in the final of the men’s Shot put where he set a new Personal Best (PB) of 21.14m to win the Silver medal.
On the track, Nigeria’s reigning 100m Champion, Seye Ogunlewe came within a hair’s breadth of getting a medal after he placed 4th in the men’s 100m final while clocking a Season’s Best (SB) of 10.19s – the same time eventual Bronze medallist, Yohan Blake set. His compatriot Enoch Adegoke, finished 7th in the race that was won by South Africa’s Akani Simbine.
Nigeria will not have a representative in the final of the men’s 400m race after both Samson Nathaniel and Chidi Okezie couldn’t make it past their respective semis. While running in the first semis, Nathaniel crossed the line in 6th as Botswana’s Isaac Makwala won the race. Okezie, who was pitted on the inside lane, placed 7th in his semifinal race where he clocked a time of 47.33s.
In the women’s 400m Heats, Yinka Ajayi was the sole athlete to qualify for the semi-finals after she came from behind to finish ahead of Botswana’s Christine Botlogetswe to win in a time of 51.71s. Ajayi, who is making her debut at the competition, will run in the semis by 12:24pm on Tuesday.
However, it was a different tale for her teammates as the duo of Patience Okon-George and Folashade Abugan were disqualified due to lane infringements. Abugan, who is making her fourth appearance at the Games, had originally placed 3rd, while Okon-George had finished 1st in her heat.
Nigeria’s first participant in the Para-sports event, Goodness Duru, came within whiskers of getting a medal for herself as she finished 4th in the women’s F46 Javelin final.
Millicent Agboegbulem became the first Boxer to make it into the semis after she defeated Kenya’s Elizabeth Andiego 5-0 on decision in the women’s 75kg quarterfinals, with the five judges scoring the bout 30-27, 29-28, 30-27, 30-25 and 30-26, all in favour of the Nigerian.
Meanwhile, in the men’s 81kg Round of 16, Lukmon Lawal lost out to Regarn Simbwa of Uganda 4-1 on decision.
Also, Nigeria’s men Basketball team lost their third consecutive game as they fell to the host team, Australia, in Pool A, by 97-50, with Skipper of the team, Ike Diogu top scoring with 19 points and 6 rebounds.
