Team Nigeria Wins 1st African Admiral Porbeni Canoe Race Championship

Team Nigeria emerged overall winner as l the maiden African Admiral Porbeni Canoe Race championships ended in Abuja.

The Team amassed a total of 34 medals, comprising 21 gold, 11 silver and two bronze to emerge as the overall winners of the event which served as a pre-qualifiers for 2024 Paris Olympics.

No fewer than 100 athletes from five African countries including Ghana, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe, Togo and host Nigeria took part in the four-day event.

Sao Tome and Principe with a total of 20 medals, including three gold, 11 silver and six bronze finished second on the medal stand, while Senegal finished third with a total of 16 medals, made up of one gold, three silver and 12 bronze.

The races competed at the event includes 500m KL3 women, 200m KL3 men, 1,000m K1 men, 1,000m K1 women, 1,000 C1 men, 1,000 C1 women, 5,000m K2 men and 200m K1 women.

Others were; 500m C2 men, 200m C1 women, 500m KL2 men, 200m KL2 men, 200m C1 men, 200m K1 men, 500m C1 women and 500m K1 women.

Nigeria’s Ayomide Bello finished as the overall best female athlete winning three gold medals in all the three events she competed for including the 1000m C1 women (5 mins 06 secs.50 ms), 200m C1 women (55 secs.57ms) and 500m C1 women (2 mins 55 secs 88 ms).

Bello was ranked 13th in the 2019 World Championships in Hungary and also won four gold medals from four events at the Admiral Porbeni Boat Race in 2021.

Also Nigeria’s youngest athlete Yinlayefa Godhelp won gold in two events which she competed for, including the 1000m K1 women (5 mins. 16 secs. 54 ms) and 500m K1 women (3 mins 01 sec. 50 ms) respectively.

Godhelp, only discovered within the last 12 months, has proven herself as a young sensation from the National Sports Festival, winning the 500m C1 race.

She went on to represent Nigeria at the second Africa Beach Games in Tunisia 2023 where she finished an impressive fourth position in what was her first ever international event.

Other gold medalists were Temitope Olasupo in 200m (15 secs. 21 ms) and 500m KL2 men (2 mins 45 secs 62 ms), Pere Paghamotei in 200m C1 men (48 secs.49 ms), Blessing Amusan in 200m K1 women (1 min. 56 secs), Ayoola Amusan/Endurance Godhelp in 500m K2 men (2 mins 06 secs.21 ms) and Joseph/Michael Moses in 500m C2 men (2 mins 23 secs.27 ms).

Team Nigeria smiled home with a 3,000 dollars prize money, while Sao Tome and Principe pocketed 2,000 dollars with Senegal settling for 1,000 dollars.