Riyadh: Six Nigerian lifters to feature in World Championship

Six Nigerian lifters will feature in this week’s International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, an official has said.

Ojadi Aduche, head coach of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF) told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja that the championship would serve as a qualifier for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
He said that the lifters included four females and two males, naming them as Adijat Olarinoye (59kg), Rofiat Lawal (59kg), Joy Eze (71kg) Ruth Ogbeifo (64 kg) Umoafia Edidiong (67kg) and Desmond Akanlo (89kg).

Aduche said that the lifters would feature in snatch, clean and jerk events in male and female categories.

He said that the lifters had been in the camp training for the championship for five weeks, expressing optimism that Nigeria would excel at the tournament, which would serve as a qualifier for the Summer Olympics.

“Having gone through the camping and seeing their efforts, these are the best players we have in this category in Nigeria.

“As we will be facing other best weightlifters from other countries and my team has signified readiness to credibly participate at the championship and to make the country proud.

“I am assuring Nigerians that Nigeria stands a chance to qualify from this championship and if they do not do well that will be a problem for us.

“I strongly believe that we will have a chance to qualify for the Olympics and I urged all the lifters to put in their very best, if they put in their very best we are going to achieve our aim.

“The team performance cannot be lowered than what we did at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham but we will be projecting for more medals,” he said.

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