After Nigeria’s poor outing at the last Summer Games in Rio, Team Nigeria Paralympics squad is almost set to redeem the country’s image in Brazil, with world and Paralympics champion, Yakubu Adesokan topping the list of athletes to travel next week for the Games. Adesokan is expected to improve on his personal best and set a new record when the competition starts from September 8 in Rio.
In less than two years after winning gold in the men’s up to 48kg on his Paralympics debut at London 2012, Nigeria’s Adesokan won his inaugural world title in 2014 with a new world record.
That was in the new weight category of the men’s up to 49kg, after changes were made in 2013. His lift of 181kg put his competitors in the shade, including Vietnam’s van Cong Le who took silver with a best of 180kg.
Since then, Le and Adesokan have met once. At the 2015 IPC Power lifting Asian Open Championships, it was Le who had the upper hand, needing just one lift of 177kg to win gold.
But he did not stop there. He went for broke with a fourth lift of 182kg, adding 1kg onto Adesokan’s world record.
Jordan’s Omar Sami Hamadeh Qarada is another face to watch. He is ranked third in the Paralympics rankings behind Le and Adesokan based on a 176kg result from the IPC Power lifting World Cup in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in February 2016.
Fans can expect to see a particularly close competition between Adesokan and Le, where the Vietnamese power lifter will aim to emulate his Nigerian rival’s Paralympics debut with his own impressive performance.
Other members of the Nigeria team to Rio 2016 are Coach Aare Feyisetan, Rolland Ezurike – 54kg, Kehinde Paul – 65kg, Innocent Nnamdi – 72kg, Tolulope Taiwo – 80kg, Jegede Bambo – 88kg and Abdulazeez Ibrahim – 97kg. The athletes are billed to compete in men’s event of the games.
In the women’s event are coach Patience Igbiti, Ben Nsini -41kg, Latifat Tijani 45kg, Onyema Esther 55kg, Lucy Ejike 61kg, Nwosu Ndidi – 73kg, Omolayo Bose 79kg and Orji Prescious +86kg.
The Paralympics athletes have in the past, rescued the country from shame when ablebodied athletes fail to win medals at the Olympics.
At the London 2012 Games, they won 13 medals comprising six gold, five silver and two bronze whereas their able-bodied counterparts returned without a medal.
The committee’s President, Monday Emoghawve, said that preparations for the Games had not been an easy task due to financial constraints.
Emoghawve won gold for the country at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics in Spain and 1996 Atlanta, U.S., Paralympics respectively.
“This present Paralympics preparation is full of challenges as a result of Nigeria’s economic meltdown, but we will try our best to do the country proud. We have never disappointed before and we will not disappoint in Brazil,” he said.
