Imo state weightlifter, Solomon Onyemaobi, on Tuesday outshone other competitors when he lifted his way to two gold medals and a silver medal in the 105 Kg weightlifting event at the ongoing 18th National Sports Festival.
Onyemaobi lifted 145 Kg in the snatch event for the gold and slumped to the second position in the clean & jerk with a lift of 166 Kg for a total lift of 311 Kg while Delta state’s Tobechukwu Ejimonu, came out of the contest with a gold and silver medal which he achieved with a golden lift in the clean & jerk of 167 KG after disappointing himself with a paltry 120 KG in the snatch event for a total lift of 287 KG.
Also on Tuesday, Team Enugu continued its medals haul at the games with a silver medal won by Ogbonna Nwodo who lifted 122 KG in the snatch event but could not replicate his performance in the clean & jerk where he could only lift 152 KG to earn a total lift of 274 KG which was not enough to pick a medal in the total lift category.
The Coach of Enugu weightlifting team, Chika Gbuji, blamed late arrival of training equipments for his team’s poor outing..
He said, “We came here really prepared to give out our very best but the late arrival of training equipment for my athletes contributed to our not too good outing. I thank God for giving us this silver. I term it golden silver.”
In the special sports category, Team Enugu’ Goodness Chukwu, threw a distance of 20.56M to pick the bronze medal in the Javelin event with Team Anambra picking the silver while team Delta athlete picked the gold.