CAA U1-8/U-20 Champs: S/Africa jumper, LeRoux wins gold, as Nigeria’s Ikweki bags bronze medal
By Uzor Odigbo
The first day of the 3rd edition of CAA athletics Championships witnessed South Africa high jumper Mateo LeRoux winning first medal for his county as Nigeria’s Praise Ikweki won bronze after three attempts at 2.06m to pave way for Le Roux to win gold.
However, Nigeria’s Praise Ikweki won the first medal for the country at the ongoing Confederation African Athletes U-18/U-20 Championships which commenced at the MKO Abiola Sports Arena, in Abeokuta, Ogun state.
In a chat with Ikwekii, he described his bronze medal as not his desired goal, attributing his inability to scale through in 2.06 to pressure upon him.
He stressed that the exposure gained at the championship would propel him to achieve his target for gold ay the All Nigeria.
“It was too much pressure. I actually wanted to make a standard here before, but it was not possible because of the pressure, but I will try to make the standard at the All Nigeria for the world championship trails,” he said.
The championships witnessed the finals of high jump, triple jump and 1500m and the 100m heat for both males and females categories.
Ikwesi, who paired with Melvin Ododo, started from 1.80m, achieving perfect record until a near missed at 2.03m before he won his third attempt to scale to the next round.
In the U-18 heat one 100m event race, South Africa’s Mukon Manavhela finished 11.38, behind Nigeria’s Igbigbidje James Clifford 11.44 to qualify for the semi-final.
Also, Adeola Adeniji Muideen took the lead finishing 11.08 while Algeria Bouhdila Yasser, who finished 11.14, grabbed the semi-final ticket in the second Heat Jayen Foure ran swiftly to finish 10.65 behind Egbon Destiny Chinedu 10.85 in the Heat 3.
In the female category, Nigeria’s Mariam Jegede won the first heat of the U18 girls 100m clocking a time of 12.13s while Congo’s Boukama Gladys finished second in 12.47s and Ghana’s Darkoah Kwateng ran 12.64s to settle for third.
In heat two, Miracle Ezechukwu out paced her opponents in the U-18 girls 100m heats, clocking a time of 11.79s (0.1). She beat South Africa’s Oluchi Ndubueze, who ran 11.93s, and Cote d’Ivoire Andre Marie Joseph, who finished third in 12.26s.
In heat 3, Chigozie Rosemary Nwankwo won in 100m.U-18 girls category.
In the U-20 100m heat, Nigeria’s Lucy Nwankwo recorded a new Personal Best (PB) of 11.80s (-0.5) to win her 100m heat while Success Oyibu won heat 1 of the U-20 women’s 100m at clocking a continues..
