Nigerian male and female sprinters Wednesday night proved too hot to handle as they won the 4x100m gold of the African Games.
Itseorishe Itsekiri who missed the gold in the men’s 100m was full throttle after he had an excellent change over with Alaba Akintola. Sunday Israel Okon and Consider Ekanem had done well putting the team in the mix in the first and second legs.
Ghana’s ambition to win a back to back gold turn into a disappointment for the home crowd as Itsekiri refused to yield to pressure from Benjamin Azamati.
“Five years ago he denied me the gold, this time around I said no way,” Itsekiri said.
“Azamati was just hanging on my shoulder and I could see him and I had to dive to make sure I reached the finish first.”
Nigeria took the race at 38.41secs, Ghana was 38.43 to win the silver and the Liberia team set a new national record at 38.73secods.
Tobi Amusan’s presence made the difference for the Nigerian women team. Justina Eyakpobeyan started and hand over Olayinka Olajide and Abinuwa Moforehan settled it well with Amusan as the team eased to a 43.05 secs effort to win the gold, Liberia was second with 44.03 seconds and Ghana with 44.21 seconds.
“Kudos to team they did marvelously well,” said coach Endurance Ojokolo.
“Tobi made the difference for us and it was excellent how she fitted into our plans because she hadn’t trained with us, hadn’t done any exchange with Abinuwa and Abinuwa had never exchanged with Tobi. She showed professionalism and had a level head.
“But the overall we are excited beating Ghana at home. We told our athletes how they beat us in the 2003 African Games and so it’s a good pay back.”
