Team Lagos is on top of the log at the 2024 National Sports Festival with seven medals, followed by Cross River and Rivers State at the end of hostilities on Tuesday.
The Invited Junior Athletes, IJA, have also enjoyed an impressive start to the National Sports Festival in Abeokuta with two gold, one silver, and one bronze medal within the first two days of the games.
The IJA athletes pipped the elite athletes to win four medals in their first-ever outing at the 22nd National Sports Festival.
Amarachi Chijioke and Scholastical Tekumbur made history, winning two gold, one silver and one bronze in the 45kg women’s category.
Chijioke claimed two gold medals in clean and jerk with the best lift of 82kg, while Tekumbur also claimed the bronze in clean and jerk.
The IJA initiative is made up of young, talented athletes across multiple sports, which is aimed at sports development.
Young athletes across multiple sports were selected to feature as the 38th state at the Sports Festival.
Director General of the NSC, Hon. Bukola Olopade, maintained that the IJA concept was designed to tie grassroots to elite sports by bridging the transition gap that has existed in the past.
He said, “Ninety per cent of the kids representing IJA are champions from the youth games, and the ones that have upset the status quo by winning these medals have automatically been elevated to elite status and qualify for elite grants that will prepare them for the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Championships next year.”
“Being the first time we are having this concept, we never expected them to win medals but just to get exposure by competing with the elite athletes, but we can see with the four medals already won that the junior athletes we brought for these Games are really fancying their chances with the big boys.”
The invited junior athletes are competing in nine sports at the Gateway Games, which include athletics, badminton, football, para athletics, swimming, table tennis, tennis, wrestling and weightlifting.
Similarly, Abayomi Adeleye won the first medal for Ekiti State on Monday following her impressive performance in weightlifting.
Adeleye grabbed a bronze medal in the 55kg category to put Ekiti on the medal table.
In a related development, Omolola Onome Didih of Team Lagos won two gold and one silver medal for Team Lagos in weightlifting.
She claimed two gold medals in the snatch and total with a lift of 93kg and 205kg, respectively.
Ruth Nyong of Team Rivers won two gold and one silver medal in the women’s 49kg class.
She lifted 75kg to claim gold in the snatch, while she won the second gold with a total lift of 167kg.
Team Ogun emerged victorious with a 32-20 win over Team Kogi in the women’s handball game on Tuesday.
As of Tuesday evening, Lagos State is topping the medal table with three gold, two silver, and two bronze, making it a total of seven medals.
Cross Rivers are in second with gold medals, while Rivers United occupy the third position with two gold, three silver, and one bronze, with a total of six medals.
