Despite seeing the country miss victory in events that were earlier highly-rated as surebet medal areas for the contingent at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Chief Tonobok Okowa is staying hopeful for more glorious moments.
Sports247 reports that Okowa admitted that seeing Kanyinsola Ajayi and Tobi Amusan settle for bronze medals in their respective events was a shock, but the AFN boss refused to slam them for missing expectations, and instead took delight from Chukwuebuka Enekwechi’s victory in the men’s shot put.
Friday night also provided succour for Okowa and all Nigerian sports lovers, as Ezekiel Nathaniel won the men’s 400m and took Nigeria’s total haul to eight gold medals at the ongoing Games.
Okowa also took a look at a number of silver medals that were earlier achieved by the contingent, especially Jessica Oji in the women’s shot put, and commended all the athletes for showing what he called high levels of patriotism, dedication and discipline, then assured them of more support.
While affirming that the AFN remains committed to supporting all the athletes in their career growth and future efforts, Okowa poured encomiums on Enekwechi for clinching gold with a throw of 21.07 metres and sympathised with Amusan, who settled for bronze in the 100m women’s hurdles final.
He noted that Amusan ran through the pain barrier to achieve a time of 12:60 seconds in the final, which he attributed to a knee injury that the world record holder got at the team’s training camp in Aberdeen, then expressed optimism for better results in all upcoming track and field events.
Okowa retorted, “I’m happy that Chukwuebuka delivered the gold medal, as we begin the countdown to our medals target. Amusan is our ambassador. She has always delivered but, for her injury, she missed the gold. We are still proud of her.
“They were favourites in their events and I’m happy the federation and the National Sports Commission have continued to support and motivate the athletes in camp to go for glory. I am confident we will win more medals in the track and field events.”
, Chief Tonobok Okowa is staying hopeful for more glorious moments.){kind=link}