Eko 2012: Rivers leads gold chase

Rivers State continued its gold medal haul at the ongoing 18th National Sports Festival when its cyclists won additional two in the 500 meters race held at the Eric Moore Road, Surulere, Lagos.
In the men’s 500 metres race, Goodnews Edet, representing Rivers State, won the contest in a time of 35.82 seconds to win Gold.
Garba Aliyu, representing Oyo State, won the silver medal in a time of 36.29 secs while the losers final was won by Oyenobo Doe from Delta State.
In the women’s race, Tombrada Girikda, representing Rivers State, breasted the tape ahead of Adejoke Durogbade of Oyo State, who placed second.
The bronze medal was won by Esther Ginikanwa of Lagos State.
Ganikanwa’s bronze is the first medal won by the host state.
In the cricket event, holding at three venues – University of Lagos cricket pitch, Jubril Martins High School cricket pitch and at the Tafawa Balewa Square cricket oval- Kaduna secured three points by a walk over against Borno in Group 1.
The match was scheduled for the Tafawa Balewa Square cricket oval.
Lagos defeated Anambra by 7 wickets in the first Group 2 match played at Unilag cricket pitch.
Anambra scored 75 runs all out in 40 overs.
Lagos secured victory by scoring 77 runs for 3 wickets in 15.2 overs.
Abiodun Shittu (Lagos) scored 27 runs off 28 balls, Adeboro Shola(Lagos), 19 runs not out off 30 balls.
In the first Group 3 match played at Jubril Martins cricket pitch, Ogun defeated Delta by 46 runs.
Delta won the toss and elected to field.
Ogun scored 162 for 9 wickets in 40 overs.
Delta in reply, scored 116 for 10 wickets in 33.2 overs.
Ajekun D of Ogun scored a decent 32 runs in 37 balls.
Mgbanwa P (Delta) scored 41 not out in 51 balls.
Oghenekevwe Onome (Delta) scored 34 runs off 67 balls.
Friday Udoh (Delta) scored 20 runs off 29 balls.
Awosanmi Ope (Ogun) took 3 wickets for 22 runs in 8 overs
In football, Enugu State women football team defeated their Benue State counterparts 2-0 in the first match at the Agege Stadium.
In the second match of the day, Akwa Ibom State women team defeated Osun State 4-1 in a one-sided affair also played at the Agege Stadium.
It was not good news for Oyo State also as Delta State humiliated them by five goals to one.
Plateau State on Wednesday recorded a shocking win over Ondo State in the Male Volleyball event of the ongoing National Sports Festival, tagged Eko 2012.
The defending champion, Ondo State, went down 2-3 in their opening match played at the Volleyball court of the Teslim Balogun Stadium on Wednesday.
Contrary to the prediction of followers of the game, Plateau State shocked their highly rated opponents in a keenly contested game.
Team Plateau player, Oladapo Joshua, believes the victory over Team Ondo shows that they are ready to secure the gold medal at the end of the event.
Joshua said: “It was a tough encounter as you can see with the score line, but I thank God that we were able to beat Ondo who were favourite to defend their title. This victory cannot be possible without the dedication and hard work put into it by the coaches and us, the players too. This is just the beginning and I want to assure you that we won’t be carried away with this victory.”
Meanwhile, Rivers State dominated Ogun State in both the male and female volleyball event decided on Wednesday.
Team Rivers female team had defeated Team Ogun 3-0 in the morning game before their male counterparts followed suit by compounding the woes of the Team Ogun also by 3-0
Team Ogun player, Aboluwaji Adebambo, said his team’s spirit will not be dampened by the loss, but will definitely brace up for their next game.
“We really prepared well for this festival, but losing to Rivers in our first game is not what we expected. But I can assure you that we will definitely go back and see where we need to improve in our game,” he noted.