by Olorunwa Lawal

Dapo Akinyele, Secretary of the Nigeria Para-Powerlifting Federation (NPPF), has assured that that the country’s para-powerlifters will make Nigeria proud at the ongoing 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Akinyele said that a repeat of the New Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, where Nigeria won six medals was possible in Glasgow, as the lifters were in high spirit due to their level of preparation for the Games.

“We are after all the gold medals here. However, we hope that the weightlifters will win more medals from the one they just won, so that we can take over from there.

“We are working towards surpassing the record achieved in New Delhi, India in 2010. We had only two gold medals available then, but now it has been increased to four gold medals.

“This means that competition will be higher because every country will be aspiring to grab one or two medals from Nigeria. But, we will try our best to win as much as we can.

“However, we are working towards winning all the four gold medals,” Akinyele said.

He also said the athletes were better informed now than before on the negative effects of doping.

This, he said would save the athletes and the country in general from the embarrassment that could be associated with doping.

Nigeria at the 2014 Commonwealth Games

Team Nigeria won its first medal at the ongoing Games on Thursday after Nkechi Opara won bronze in weightlifting, in the women’s 48kg category.

The table tennis team recording vital wins in their Games. Offiong Edem, Ganiat Ogundele and Rashidat Ogundele defeated their Kenyan counterparts 3-0 with each of the Nigerian ladies winning all their three matches in the competition.

In the men’s category which has Aruna Quadri, Ojo Onaolapo and Segun Toriola, Nigeria also powered past their opponents from Bangladesh to win their three games. The win qualified them into the next round of the competition.

Sola