Nigeria has won her first gold medal at the ongoing Glasgow Commonwealth Games with Chika Amalaha emerging tops in the women’s 53kg
weightlifting tournament.
yesterday afternoon, Chika lifted 85kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk to claim top spot, lifting a total of 196kg ahead of Dika Toua of Papua New Guinea and Santoshi Matsa of India. Just 16, the Rivers State-born Chika beat 11 other contestants at the event which took place at the Clyde Auditorium.
Chika won her medal despite competing in mufti as the athletes are yet to get their kits from the Team Nigeria management. Her medal is Nigeria’s second of the games following Nkechi Opara bronze which she won 2 days back in the women’s 48kg weightlifting event.
At the Glasgow games, Nigeria appears to be signifying that it is prepared to be a dominant force in weightlifting once again, as was the case in 2010 when the country topped the sports’ medal charts with five gold, four silver and five bronze. Despite the problems Team Nigeria has had at the games, the country has a strong weightlifting women’s team, including the likes of 2010 63kg gold winner Obioma Agatha Okoli and Maryam Usman.
