…Thumbs up Lawal, Eze and Nigerian sports stakeholders

The President, Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF), Dr Ibrahim Abdul has stressed that important lessons have been gleaned from the country’s outing at the just concluded Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Dr. Abdul also used the medium to thumb up the valiant efforts of his two Weightlifters: Rafiatu Folashade Lawal and Joy Ogbonne Eze who gave a very good account of themselves in their various weight classes but narrowly missed medals.

Lawal, competing in the women’s 59kg, came 5th overall after putting up a spectacular show including lifting a personal best.

The 2023 Africa Games champion lifted a combined 230kg to place 5th. She had a lift of 100kg in snatch and pulled 130kg in clean and jerk.

She was just 11kg away from the gold medalist, Luo Shifang of China who clinched the revered accolade with 241kg lift total and barely 5kg off the medals zone with Charron Maude of Canada winning the silver with a total of 235kg while 30 years Taiwanese Amis weightlifter, Kuo Hsing-Chun won Bronze with 235kg total.

For Eze who was the 2019 and 2023 Africa Games champion, her 101kg lift in snatch and 131kg lift in clean & jerk with a total of 231kg, were not enough to land her in the medals zone as she ended her campaign 7th overall in her debut Olympic Games.

Reacting to the performance of both Weightlifters, the NWF President, Dr Ibrahim Abdul praised the effort and resilience of both lifters whom he said performed commendably in their debut Olympics.

The NWF President said that with better preparations and more exposure ahead of future competitions, the two lifters and their contemporaries have what it takes to excel in the sport.

He thanked the President of the country, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for the release of funds for the Olympic Games and he also commended the hard work of the Sports Ministry headed by Senator John Enoh and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) with Engineer Habu Gumel in charge.

“It was not the Olympic Games we dreamt of but I must commend my Weightlifters for their commendable outing in Paris. Rafiatu Lawal was very close to securing medal while Joy Eze also tried her best,” Dr Abdul told the NWF Media.

“What we have learnt from the Olympics is that we have to prepare better and expose our lifters to more international competitions for them to regularly compete with the best. It was an opener for us as a Federation and we shall work on it ahead of future competitions.

“I must specially thank the President of the country, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for his love for sports and the release of funds for the Olympics. The Sports Ministry with Senator John Enoh in full charge did a good job too and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) headed by Engineer Habu Gumel ensured all sports were properly coordinated during the games.”

Dr Abdul assures that the NWF will soon do a postmortem of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and proffer a way forward to ensure the country Weightlifters get the best of attention for upcoming competitions.