Nigeria absent at Africa Weightlifting Champ

Posted: Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Although the country is the defending champion, it would not participate at the 15th Africa Senior Men and 10th Women Weightlifting Championships which began in Yaoundé, Cameroon yesterday. The championships ends on August 8.
The Secretary, Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF), Uche Onwume, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos that the non-participation was due to “technical reason.”
Onwume regretted that efforts to ensure that Nigeria was represented at the competition failed.
She, however, said that two Nigerians sponsored themselves to the championships to officiate.
Onwume said they were Navy Capt. Babatunde Adedimeji, who is the Vice-President of Africa Weightlifting Federation (AWF), and Lawrence Iquaibom, a member of the AWF Technical Committee. She added that they left the country on Monday.
It would be recalled that the championship was last held in 2008 in South Africa where Nigeria won 28 gold medals to emerge tops in both the men and women categories.