Team Edo asserted their dominance in weightlifting at the ongoing 9th National Youth Games in Asaba, Delta State, finishing well ahead of the competition to emerge overall champions.
With a commanding haul of 9 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals (12 in total), Edo outclassed their rivals, leaving Team Akwa Ibom in second place with 5 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze medals (9 total).
Team Abia followed in third place with 3 gold medals, while Team Niger secured fourth place with 1 gold and 2 silver medals. Teams Enugu, Oyo, and the FCT shared fifth position with three silver medals each, while Lagos finished eighth with three medals (2 silver, 1 bronze).
Imo claimed ninth spot with 1 silver and 2 bronze medals, while Plateau, Delta, and Osun completed the top 12. Edo’s dominance was most evident in the women’s weight classes, where they swept all nine gold medals on offer.
Favour Cornelius (44kg), Esther Amarachi Chijoke (48kg), and Beauty Akpore (53kg) each won three gold medals to propel Edo to the top. In the men’s division, Akwa Ibom demonstrated their strength by winning five of the nine gold medals available.
Destiny Okon Bassey (56kg) secured two gold medals, while Goodness Samuel Okon (65kg) claimed three, highlighting their dominance.
Team Abia also impressed, with Vitalis Nnaji Chiemerie sweeping three gold medals in the men’s 60kg category. Niger’s Abdulsalam Kamaldeen grabbed gold in the men’s 56kg clean and jerk with a lift of 91kg. Other standout performances came from Oyo’s Fathia Toluwalase Owoyele, who battled hard to win three silver medals in the women’s 48kg category, while Enugu’s Aguji Michael Chiemerie (65kg) and FCT’s Esther Chidalu Ezenwa (44kg) both claimed three silver medals.
Ezenwa’s younger sister, Chinaza Cecilia Ezenwa (Lagos, 53kg), added two silvers and one bronze to ensure Lagos made the medals table. For Team Imo, Victory Maduabuchi Iwuoha contributed 1 silver and 2 bronze in the Men’s 60kg, while Plateau’s Dach Veirat Dachoaaom secured 1 silver and 1 bronze in the Women’s 53kg.
Delta and Osun each walked away with five bronze medals through spirited performances from their lifters. In total, 12 states featured on the medals table, but it was Edo’s remarkable clean sweep in the women’s division that underlined their supremacy. At the conclusion of the weightlifting event, the President of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF), Dr. Ibrahim Abdul Aladi, commended the outstanding performances of the athletes, assuring that newly discovered talents would be given more opportunities to develop and excel in the sport.
Dr. Aladi reaffirmed the Federation’s commitment to building a consistent pool of weightlifters capable of representing Nigeria at both national and international levels. Also speaking, NWF Technical Official, Sefiya Onubaye Ahuozia, praised the quality of competition at the National Youth Games in Asaba, expressing confidence that with the level of talent on display, Nigeria’s future in weightlifting remains bright.
