3,053 total views,  12 views today

By Amaechi Agbo

Okeke Vivian Ijeoma has won Team Enugu’s first medal at the ongoing 2022 National Sports Festival, NSF in Asaba, Delta State.

Ijeoma won bronze medal in -63kg women category in Judo on Saturday.

The young judoist expressed delight over her feat and remained optimistic that it would spur her to do better in subsequent festivals.

“I feel very happy because this is my second time competing in judo. My first time was in Eko (2012) but I did not win any medal then; this one, is my second time and I won a bronze medal.

“I was very happy and I will make sure that in the next festival I pray to step up and win gold or silver,” she told our correspondent in Asaba.

Sharing her preparations and challenges, Ijeoma said “I prepared well but it was not easy. I have to transport myself from Onitsha to Asaba to train every time for this competition. I trained with some of the athletes and they helped me alot. Some champions like Michael Agbo and Elizabeth, I trained with them. They thought me a lot and with the experience and training I was able to win.”

Her coach, Mr Johnson Mbah re-echoed her disposition but lamented that lack of training mats for the judoists in the state is hampering their performances and expectations.

“I feel happy. I tried my best to train the athletes. The problem that we have is we lack good mats in the state to train. We just managed the mats we have and trained with the athletes for the festival. It has been long we stopped attending National Sports Festival, that is judo team. But they gave us chance for this festival and we tried our best.

“Giving a good training mat, we will perform better in the next sports festival. If Enugu State can provide a better equipment for judo, our training will be fine and the nest festival, we will make it up and win more medals for the state,” he concluded.

As at the time of this report, Enugu State team are placed 31st on the medals table with one bronze.