By Samuel Ahmadu and Kuti Dare, Ilorin on September 29, 2016

TEAM DELTA EMERGES OVERALL WINNER IN KARATE

Team Delta on Wednesday emerged overall winner in the Karate event of the second edition of the National Youth Games taking place at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State. It emerged the best among the 17 states that participated in the Karate event by winning two gold and two bronze medals.

In the female category, Oghenevwogaga Elizabeth Komeno (-50kg) and Nelson Faith (-55kg) clinched gold while Omotayo Agbolade (-65kg) and Omogu chineye (-60kg) won bronze in the male category.

Team Nasarawa came second with one gold, one silver and one bronze – all coming from Seidu Ahmed (-60kg) male category, Chioma Ani (-55kg) female category and Ovey Kigbu (-65kg) respectively.

In the third position was the host state, Team Kwara, bagging one gold from Bashir Abdulazeez and one silver from Nurudeen Bashir.

Joy Ochaya won one silver in the female category and Ruth Azike with one bronze to put Plateau State in the fourth position.

Occupying the fifth position is Akwa Ibom with one silver coming from Umoreh Obong in the -65kg male category, FCT sixth with two bronze medals from Tomilola Babalola (-55kg) in the female category and Solomon Ejike (-60kg) in the male category.

The seventh and eighth positions went to Anambra and Niger states with one bronze medal each from Nwanko Chizoba as well as Esther Paul  both in the -50kg female weight category.

Oghenevwogaga Elizabeth (-50kg) of Delta emerged the overall best female fighter, while Bashir Abdulazeez (-65kg) of Team Kwara was the best male fighter.

EBONYI, TARABA WIN GOLD IN TAEKWONDO

Chidinma Nwankwo of Ebonyi State clinched gold in the -49kg female category, while Umar Abubakar of Taraba State won gold in the -48kg male category in the Taekwondo event.

It was Nwankwo’s last kick against favourite Success Ugwu of Delta State that gave her the coveted gold medal, while Abubakar (Team Taraba) saw off newcomer Salihu Mohammed of Kano in a keen contest.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Audu from Yobe State and Obinna Mircle of Anambra settled for the bronze medals in the -49 female category.

However, Mohammed Musa of Niger State and Ishmael Ahmed of Plateau State both won bronze medals in the male category.

ANAMBRA’S HELEN WINS TWO GOLD, 1 SILVER IN CHESS

Ikegbunam Helen of Anambra State emerged the best female athlete in the chess event, winning two gold and one silver medal.

Helen won one gold each in the individual and team events as well as a silver in the blitz event.

The overall best female player stunned opponents from Yobe, Imo, Kaduna, Rivers, FCT, Delta, Kwara, Ogun, Gombe, Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi and Plateau states, garnering 100% record at rate point 1,800.

In second and third places were Katherine Enosoregbe from Yobe State and Adaeze Opara from Imo respectively.

Anambra State emerged overall best at the end of the chess event winning four gold and one silver. The other athletes are Francis Ifechukwu (male), who won one gold in the team event, Agha Obianulu (female) one gold in the team event and Omesi Miracle (female), who carted away a gold medal in both the individual and blitz events.

Anambra were closely followed by Ogun State with one gold and two silver, while Delta State got one gold, one silver and one bronze medal.

The revelation at the chess event was Ikechukwu Osadebe, 11 years old, who won gold and bronze medals for Team FCT.

EARLY MEDALS FOR KANO, AKWA IBOM

The medals rain at the 2016 National Youth Games holding in Ilorin, Kwara State, started early for Kano and Akwa Ibom states folowing their spectacular outings in the Taekwondo event.

Daniel Mfom (male) of Team Akwa Ibom and Rukayat Jimoh (female) of Kano State bagged gold in the 55kg and 46kg categories respectively.

Kano’s Rukayat edged out lanky Peter Blessing (Delta State) to give Kano State their first medal at the Games taking place in the Kwara State capital. Rukayat earlier defeated Amadi Jennifer, (Imo) in a keenly contested semi final.

Elsewhere, Daniel Mfom (-55kg) fought hard to earn Akwa Ibom a gold medal after defeating Bright Enock of Team Ogun.

In the male category, Suopriye Hart and Osinachi Onyejiekwe won bronze apiece for Teams Rivers and Imo.

In the female category, Amadi Jennifer of Team Imo and Mesoma Nwakwo of Ebonyi State took home bronze medals.

Ogunmuyiwa Gbolahan, one of the technical officials, said the event is not all about winning but to fish out prospective champions in various states.

On his part, Secretary-General, Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), Sunny Obot, said plans are already in place to groom talents discovered during event into future champions.

Obot said the National Youth Games is geared towards identifying athletes for both the Taekwondo Youth Olympic Games and next year’s Commonwealth Youth Games.

His words: “We are beginning to achieve our purpose and have seen the hidden talents and identified.

“The Youth Games has created a platform for us and am assuring Nigeria that in the nearest future the names of this athletes will be heard all over the world.

“The Olympics has come and gone and we learnt our lessons the hard way. This is the drawing board before our very eyes and we will ensure that the right thing is done.”

Source Daily Sports

Posted September 29, 2016

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