Paris 2024 Qualifiers: Team Nigeria Returns With 12 Medals From Africa Weightlifting Championship

A delegation of five Nigerian Weightlifters and two coaches returned to the country on Thursday after they amassed 12 medals at the 2023 Senior Africa Weightlifting Championship in Tunisia, which also serves as 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers.

The delegation, led by the President of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation, NWF Ibrahim Abdul, came into the country via Lagos in a statement signed by the federation’s media officer, Amaechi Agbo.

Nigeria won 12 medals, comprising three gold, seven silver, and two bronze medals at the championship.

Lawal Rofiat and Olarinoye Adenike Adijat won three gold and three silver medals, respectively, in the 59kg women’s category on Tuesday.

Eze Joy Ogbonne and Edidiong Umoafia won six additional medals on Wednesday. While Ogbonne clinched three silver medals in the 71kg women’s category, Umoafia won a silver and two bronze medals in 73kg men.

Umoafia could have won more medals, but he had an injury during the Snatch, where he won a silver medal. He managed to continue and got a bronze in the Clean & Jerk and Total.

Nigeria’s quest to increase their medal haul on Wednesday did not go as planned after Akano Desmond came fourth in the 89kg men’s category.

Desmond, who rounded off Nigeria’s participation at the championship, had a lift of 145kg in the snatch, 190kg in the Clean & Jerk and a Total lift of 255 kilograms to emerge fourth in the category.

Nigeria weightlifters will participate in six Championship qualifiers as they seek to return Nigeria to the global weightlifting map in the 2024 Olympics Games in Paris, France.

The 2023 Africa Weightlifting Championship, which started on 10 May, will end on Friday, 19 May, in Tunis, Tunisia’s capital.