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2022 Commonwealth Games: Tobi Amusan, Ese Brume, receive $5,000, $3,000 bonuses from Sports Ministry

August 9, 2022 No Comments

The Nigerian Youth and Sports ministry has paid the fourth set of Team Nigeria medallists and their coaches at the 2022 Commonwealth for their heroics in Birmingham.

Athletes who won gold medals received $5,000, silver medallist received $3,000, while bronze medallists got $2,000. Athletes who represented Nigeria in the 4 x100 relay received $15,000 for the team, according to the Youth and Sports ministry.

Amongst those who got rewarded are Women’s 100m Hurdles Champion, Tobi Amusan, 200m Silver medallist and long jump winner, Ese Brume among others.

The ministry also revealed that the Coaches and officials also got rewarded for their roles in Team Nigeria’s success. The Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare also ensured that three weeks camping allowance was paid to all athletes.

The reward comes after The Ministry, last week, splashed $25,000 on Team Nigeria athletes who won the first set of medals at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham during a ceremony held at the Hilton Garden in Birmingham.

Lifestyle

Amusan sets new record, wins gold at C’Wealth

August 7, 2022 No Comments

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan has won the gold medal in the women’s 100m hurdles at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

The world champion successfully defended her title at the Alexander Stadium on Sunday in the women’s 100m hurdles final.

Amusan was able to run a Games record of 12.30s, setting other records as well, and becoming the first world champion to win gold and the first Nigerian athlete to do the same.

Amusan was one of the favourites to get the gold at the tournament following her impressive showing at the World.

Amusan was one of the favourites to get the gold at the tournament following her impressive showing at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, the United States, which saw her break multiple records to win Nigeria’s first gold at the World Championships.

Having done it on another continent, Amusan made sure to replicate that fine display in Europe, proving that it was no fluke and that it was indeed her time.The 25-year-old ran a blistering 12.30secs to claim the gold and also set a new Games Record in Birmingham.“Honestly, I believe in my abilities but I was not expecting a world record at these championships.

The goal is always just to execute well and get the win. So the world record is a bonus. I knew I had it in me but I could not believe it when I saw it on the screen after the semis.

“Before the final, I just tried to stay calm and to do my best. I took a deep breath knowing that I have some goals to accomplish and it worked pretty well. I knew it was very fast but not this fast,” Amusan said after her final victory.

Coming up behind here were Bahamas’s Devynne Charlton (12.58secs) who took silver and England’s Cindy Sember (12.59secs) who took bronze with both some notable distance behind the eventual winner.With this result, Nigeria has now won 10 gold medals and 31 medals in total.

Team Nigeria are now just one behind the gold medal record set by the 1994 team (11 gold medals) at the Commonwealth Games and six behind the total medals record (37 medals).

With seven competitions still holding potential for gold for the team on the final day and World Athletics Championship silver medallist Ese Brume still in competition later today, Nigeria can and will hope for more.

Entertainment, World News

Wrestlers Adekuoroye, Oborududu retain C’Wealth title

August 6, 2022 No Comments

Wrestlers Odunayo Adekuoroye, Blessing Oborodudu and Esther Kolawole increased Nigeria’s medal haul to 16 at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham after the duo claimed gold in their respective wrestling event on Friday.Team Nigeria has so far won seven gold, three silvers and six bronze medals.

Three-time world championships medallist, Adekuoroye, won her third straight gold medal at the Commonwealth Games after beating Anshu Malik from India 7-3 in the final of the women’s 57kg freestyle wrestling event.Before now, Adekuoroye won gold in the 53kg freestyle category at the 2014 edition of the games in Glasgow as well as gold in the 57kg freestyle category.Malik, the top seed in her category at Birmingham 2022, started cautiously against Adekuoroye.The experienced Adekuoroye opened the scoring with a two-point throwdown and doubled her lead just before the break to take a 4-0 lead heading into the second period.

The young Indian wrestler, meanwhile, struggled to find a way through the Nigerian’s strong defence and only won her first point of the bout through a passivity penalty on Adekuoroye.

The Nigerian eventually won the bout 7-3 to win her third straight gold at the CWG. The match originally ended 6-4, but a point got swapped due to an unsuccessful challenge by Anshu’s camp after the match ended.Oborududu also edged Linda Morais from Canada in the women’s 68kg category final. The feat sees her become a two times Commonwealth Games Champion.

In the 62kg category, Esther Kolawole, also won bronze after defeating Abbie Fountain from Scotland 10-0. Sakshi Malik from India won gold while Ana Gonzalez settled for silver.In the women’s long jump qualifying round Group B, Ese Brume advanced to the next stage after placing second behind Ghana’s Deborah Acquah.

In the men’s 4x400m relay round 1, Nigeria failed to qualify for the next stage having placed fourth behind Botswana, Jamaica and Zambia.In the women’s 100m hurdles event, Tobi Amusan, qualified for the final billed for the Alexander Arena after she won her heat with a time of 12.40secs.It was Amusan’s first race since her world record feat in Oregon, United States.

Amusan will contest the final with Jamaican duo Danielle Williams, Megan Tapper, England’s Cindy Sembre, Michelle Jenneke of Australia and Devynne Charlton of Bahamas.

The Nigerian star has the chance to defend her Commonwealth Games title which she won in 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia.Amusan opened her 2022 season by winning the 2022 Diamond League event in Paris, were she set an African record by 0.01secs with a time of 12.41secs.

The 25-year-old has been tipped to break the 16-year-old 12.65secs Games record set by Jamaica’s Brigitte Foster-Hylton in Melbourne, Australia after running a new 12.12secs World record to win the world title in Oregon, USA last month.In Table Tennis, the duo Amadi Omeh and Olajide Omotayo beat Guyana’s Shemar Britton and Christopher Franklin 3-1 (11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5).

In the women’s singles round of 16, Offiong Edem crashed 4-1 (13-11, 11-3,11-6,9-11,11-7) to Jian Lay from Australia.

But she teamed up perfectly with Fatimo Bello in the women’s doubles event to beat the duo Priscilla Greaves and Thuraia Thomas from Guyana in three sets (11-3,11-3, 11-5).

World No.15, Aruna Quadri also defeated Gavin Rumgay of Scotland, 4-0 to progress to the quarter-finals of men’s singles event but Abiodun and Omotayo failed to advance after they lost 4-0 in their respective round of 16 games.In the mixed doubles, Bode Abiodun and Fatimo Bello lost to the duo Luu Finn and Liu Yangzi 3-0 (11-7,12-10,11-7) round of 16.

Also the duo of Omotayo Olajide and Ojomu Ajoke lost in three straight sets (11-7,11-6, 11-7) to Gnanasekaran Sathiyan and Batra Manika in the mixed doubles event.In the men’s singles classes, Nasiru Sule reached the final of the event after he edged Raj Alagar from India 3-1 (7-11,11-8,11-4,11-7).

Ifechukwude Ikpeoyi also advanced to the final after defeating India’s Sonalben Patel 3-1 in the Para Table Tennis event.In the men’s shot put final, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi failed to make podium finish after finishing fourth after a throw of 20.36m.

New Zealand’s Tom Walsh claimed gold at Alexander Stadium while Aucklander Jacko Gill, who uncorked a personal-best 21.90 to snare silver, completed a Kiwi one-two.

Lifestyle

Nigerian start-up wins $10,000 at Commonwealth Youth Forum in Kigali

June 23, 2022 No Comments

A Nigerian start-up, Salubata Technologies, is among the top four winners of Kigali Startup Festival 2022 at the Commonwealth Youth Forum (CYF) in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Salubata, Yewande Adebowale, whose company transforms plastic wastes into customised shoes, received a prize of $10,000 at the closing ceremony of the forum.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Youth Forum is one of the four that took place ahead of the main Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM).

According to the organizers, no fewer than 400 entries were received for the startup award, which is in four categories: green innovation, inter-trade, agricultural innovation and digital geeks.

Adebowale’s entry was selected in the Green Innovation Guru Award category.

In an interview yesterday with NAN, the Salubata COO said her products impacted on the Nigerian economy.

“We believe we are making a very significant change, particularly from an environmental viewpoint, because the volume of plastic wastes in our environments keeps growing every year,” she said.

Also, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Rwanda, Aishatu Musa, congratulated the Nigerian youth delegation to CHOGM 2022 for representing the country well.

The high commissioner, who hosted the delegates at the Chancery in Kigali, urged them to continue to portray Nigeria as a country of innovators and entrepreneurs.

“It is great to see young people from Nigeria doing great things. I must commend your efforts and contributions in trying to address some of the challenges facing the commonwealth countries.

“Nigeria is blessed with lots of talents and the youth are the country’s pride. So, I urge you to be passionate about your dreams and aspirations and continue to push them to make the world a better place,” Musa said.

Leader of the delegation and aide to the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Oluwakemi Areola, thanked the high commissioner for the warm reception for the delegates.