12th December, 2018
Usheoritse Itsekiri of Rivers and Bukola Boluwatife of Ondo State emerged winners of the men’s and women’s 100m races respectively at the ongoing 19th National Sports Festival (NSF) on Wednesday.
Itsekiri coasted home in a time of 10.27 seconds to win the male event’s gold medal, while Boluwatife crossed the finish line in 11.45 secs in the women’s race.
Egwero Oghene of Delta and Enoch Adegoke of Rivers finished in 10.32 secs in the men’s race, but the former won second place by arriving hundredths of a second earlier.
In the women’s category, Peace Uko of Cross River came second to take silver, while Joy Udoh of Delta returned in 11.53 secs to settle for the bronze.
Speaking with reporters after the race, Itsekiri said it was the sprint if his life, as he never expected to win gold.
“This was based on the fact that my personal best time was one of the poorest among the finalists,’’ he said.
On her part, Boluwatife said she was expecting nothing less than a victory because she had trained hard for the NSF.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that several athletics events were cancelled at the 19th NSF, with organisers citing inadequate funds.
Events such as 200m and relay races were not featured at the games, but action continues in 400m, shot put, javelin and other track and field events on Thursday.