Weightlifter Adijat Olarinoye wins Nigeria's first gold at ongoing Commonwealth Games

NIGERIA has won her first gold medal at the ongoing Commonwealth Games taking place in Birmingham in the UK with weightlifter Adijat Olarinoye setting a new tournament record of 203kg in the women’s 55kg weightlifting event.

In a hard-fought victory, Olarinoye, 23, lifted a total of 92kg in the snatch and then managed 111kg in the clean and jerk. None of her opponents managed to go over 90kg in the snatch and her two main opponents India’s Bindyarani Sorokhaibam and England’s Fraer Morrow were unable to match her combined score of 203kg.

Sorokhaibam ended up with the silver medal while Morrow took home the bronze medal in an event which is certain to see Nigeria feature a lot more. Historically, Nigeria has done well at weightlifting and para-lifting at Commonwealth Games and even yesterday, in the women’s 49kg weightlifting, 19-year old Stella Kingsley narrowly missed out, finishing fourth with a combined lift of 170kg.

After Day Two, Nigeria currently sits in joint ninth along with India, Uganda, Bermuda and Trinidad & Tobago on the medals table. Australia have appeared to open up what looks like an unassailable lead, topping the table with 13 gold, eight silver and 11 bronze medals, followed by New Zealand with seven gold, four silver and two bronze medals.

Hosts England are third with five gold medals, 12 silver and four bronze medals, while Canada and Scotland complete the top five as they sit fourth and fifth respectively. Team Nigeria will hope to add to the one medal when actions resumes today on Day Three of the games.

Edidiong Umoafia will be in action in the men’s 67kg weightlifting event, while Team Nigeria will face Malaysia in the quarter-final of the men’s team table tennis. Nigeria will also stand a chance of winning a medal in the over 71-75kg of the boxing event with Adeyinka Benson set to face Ghana’s Abubakari Quartey in the round of 16.

Completing the action for the day, Rafiatu Lawal will be competing in the women’s 59kg weightlifting. Historically, Nigeria has always ended up in the top 10 of the medals table in Commonwealth Games.