Team Rivers’ weightlifting coach, Ojadi Aduche was relieved after one of his lifters, Caroline Okonkwo registered the team on the medals table in the event. The lifter, who was full of confidence as competition in the women’s 63kg class went on at the Brai Ayanote gymnasium went on, won three gold medals to improve Rivers state’s total haul last weekend, to16gold, eight silver andsix bronze medals, one gold medal more than rival, Delta State.

Okonkwo lifted a total of 96kg to win gold in the snatch event, 118kg in Clean and Jerk to make a total score of 214 to claim two more gold.

Victoria Adesanmi of Akwa Ibom finished second to win three silver medals, while hosts, Lagos State claimed bronze.

Speaking after the event coach Aduche said that he was a relieved man to have seen his team finally make the gold list.

He said that he had wanted Okonkwo to go after the event’s national record but an unfortunate knee injury forced them to concentrate on just winning the events.

Aduche, a Commonwealth gold medalist, said that he was targeting at least nine gold medals in weightlifting as the festival continues.

According to him, however, Delta State has been a thorn in their flesh. “We are trying to counter Delta team, they are working very hard here, in fact, they are good. After we won in Port Harcourt last year, they went back and did their home work, they have come up very strong here, but it is not over until it is over, we shall do our best”, the coach said.

It will be recalled that Team Delta captured a total of Eight gold medals in Weight lifting last Saturday.

On the overall standard of weightlifting in the country, Ojadi said that the game was not as good as it used to be. “The performance has gone down and the game is not making much progress, this is attributable to the eligibility rule governing the National Sports Festival”

He stated that the fact that lifters become ineligible after some appearances and have to switch to other sports to make ends meet negatively affects quality in the sport.