Commonwealth Games: Nigeria claim 2 silver

Nigeria eventually appeared on the medals table on Monday at the ongoing 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia with two silver medals which came through table tennis and athletics.

At the time of this report, Nigeria stand at 20th position on the official medals’ table of the Games with two silver medals.

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi became the first Nigerian to make the podium in individual sport, as he claimed silver in the men’s shot put final.

Enekwechi finished second position with a distance throw of 21.14m and also set a new personal best, as another Nigerian, Eke Kalu finished 12th with a throw of 17.86m.

Tomas Walsh of New Zealand won the gold with a throw of 21.41m and also set a new Games record.

Also on Monday, the Nigerian men’s table team clinched the silver medal having lost 0-3 to India in the final.

The Nigerian team who missed the services of their most rated player, Quadri Aruna due to ill-health, had sensationally defeated England 3-2 in the semi-final, in what was described as one of the most dramatic matches ever seen at the Games.

Bode Abiodun lost to Indian Achanta Sharath 11-4, 5-11, 4-11, 9-11 in the opener in the epic final, while veteran Player, Segun Toriola too followed suit.

Toriola, the only African to have attended seven Olympics, though won the first set 12-10 before his opponent, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran recovered to win three straight sets 11-3, 11-3, 11-4 to claim victory on 3-1.

The Indians sealed the victory through Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai who beat Nigeria’s duo of Omotayo Olajide and Bode Abiodun 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-3).

Speaking on the development, coach of the Nigerian table tennis team,  Nosiru Bello blamed fatigue and injury for the defeat.

“We were fatigued as we only rested 40 minutes before the commencement of the final against India,” Bello told the Team Nigeria media team.

“Segun Toriola had a muscle injury but still gave his best. The Indians played their semi-final in the morning and rested better than us. We played our semi-final and hardly rested before the final. That lack of rest affected us badly.”

Meanwhile, Quadri, is hoping to take part in the men’s singles scheduled to begin tomorrow saying: “I was not feeling fine [to take part in the team event]. I decided to recuperate and play the singles”.