Gold Coast 2018: Nigeria set World record, win three Gold, two Silver in Powerlifting

Nigeria have won three gold medals and two Silver in the para-powerlifting events at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.  

Nigerian trio of Roland Ezuruike, Esther Oyema and Ndidi Nwosu on Tuesday (today) all won gold medals in the para-powerlifting events, while the duo of Paul Kehinde and Lucy Kehinde each won silver medals in the men and women’s events respectively.

Contesting in the men’s lightweight final, Ezuruike became the first Nigerian to claim a gold medal at this year’s edition with a lift of 224.3kg, with the silver medal going to his compatriot Kehinde who lifted 219.9kg while Ali Jawad lifted 182.7kg to win the bronze medal for England.

In the women’s lightweight, Onyema made a lift of 141.6kg to create a new world record.

Ejike claimed the silver medal with a lift of 134.1kg and Zoe Newson from England took the bronze medal with a lift of 106.1.

In the women’s heavyweight, Nwosu emerged tops with a lift of 110.4kg to finish ahead of Louis Sudgen of England (89.2kg) and Joyce Njuguna of Kenya (89.0kg).

Team Nigeria have now won three gold and four silver medals and are now 10th in the overall medal standings.