Rafiat Lawal, who won gold in the women’s 59kg category, followed the footsteps of Adijat Olarinoye, who picked gold in the 55kg class on Saturday, July 30
By Kehinde Okeowo
Nigerian female weightlifter, Rafiat Lawal has picked up another gold medal for the country at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
She joined her compatriot, Adijat Adenike Olarinoye, who won a gold medal in the 55kg class after lifting a total of 203kg and setting a new Games record on Saturday, July 30.
Rafiat Lawal lifted 90kg in the Snatch category, setting a new Commonwealth Games Record.
The 25-year-old in the clean & jerk category, lifted 110kg at the first attempt, before lifting 115kg to set the Commonwealth Games Record, she then broke the record again, after lifting 116kg on the third attempt.
ALSO READ: Female weightlifter, Olarinoye, wins Nigeria’s 1st Commonwealth Games medal
Her combined efforts of 206kg in the snatch and clean & jerk is a new Commonwealth Games Record in the women’s 59kg weightlifting event.
England’s Jessica Gordon Brown won a silver medal with a combined lifting of 197kg, while Canada’s Tali Darsigny picked the bronze medal with a total of 196kg.
With Lawal’s medal, Nigeria has now picked up a second gold medal and a total of three medals at the event, meaning all the country’s medals at the Games so far, have all come from the weightlifting event
Earlier today, Umuoafia Edidiong Joseph won a bronze medal in the 67kg male category.
Prior to winning the Commonwealth medal, Rafiatu Lawal won a gold medal at the 2019 All-African Games in Rabat and won another one at the 2021 African Championships in Nairobi.
She also won a gold medal at the 2021 Commonwealth Qualifiers in the Uzbek Capital, Tashkent: all in the women’s 59kg weightlifting event
