I cannot wait to represent
Nigeria at an international armwrestling competition,’’ said Raphael Ubah, who defended his 100kg male category title at the Lagos Invitational Armwrestling Championships which ended on Saturday.
Ubah told newsmen after retaining the title that he trained hard before the competition and attributed the feat to sheer determination. “I was devoted to my training because I knew what was at stake. I kept training and banked on luck from God,’’ he said. The Energy Armwrestling Club of Owerri athlete said that though he had yet to represent Nigeria at an international tournament he could not wait to do so. “It’s a relatively new sport in Nigeria and I am putting in so much effort to build up myself for national assignments.
“Every athlete’s dream is to represent his or her country at international competitions,’’ he said. Becky Ademoh, a female 90kg wrestler, who uprooted Ijeoma Soribe, a two-time champion, said that in the last two years she had been playing second fiddle to Soribe. She added that she had been looking forward to the victory because she prepared for it. “It wasn’t an easy task wrestling with her in the final. She is a top athlete that I had to challenge her and win,’’ she said. The Lagos State Armwrestling Club member said she started the sport two years ago, adding that she was impressed with what she had achieved. Soribe, the former female champion, described the loss as unfortunate but promised to re-launch herself and reclaim her title.
“Defeat is not meant to weigh someone down but rather spur one into getting better. Defeat is a challenge to do better,’’ she said. Tidesports source reports that no fewer than 70 armwrestlers took part in the two-day competition at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos. Some of the gold medal winners are Adebukola Adeyanju, Becky Ademoh, Olajide Martins, Adeyinka Adeyemi, Toyin Amode, Ugochukwu Ugonna and Raphael Ubah. The silver medallists are Egbula Asumpta, Ijeoma Soribe, Idris Abubakar, Kingsley Onuoha, Bidemi Yanyanbini, Ogbonna Chukwu and Maxwell Okeke. Ademoh and Ubah emerged the best female and male players respectively and got N 25,000 each. Each gold medalist got N5,000, silver medalists N3,000 and bronze winners N2,000.