By lkemefuna Asika
Anambra athletes participating in the ongoing 8th National Youth Games have taken their total medals haul to 25.
AnambraDaily can authoritatively report that medals won by Team Anambra consist of nine gold, eight silver and eight bronze.
The Anambra contigents maintained dominance in athletics by taking the first position in the 200m and 4x100m events.
Chigozie Nwankwo brested the rope in the 200m female event in the time 24.71s to beat Precious Eze also of Anambra who clocked 25.02s.
The female quartet of Adaeze Eze, Miracle David, Ifechukwu Nwankwo and Chigozie Nwankwo finished first in the 4x100m in the time of 48.21s to beat Edo and Ogun states athletes who finished 48.82s and 48.90s respectively.
Team Anambra had earlier won gold in 100m, triple jump, 800m, Volleyball female team, Taekwondo- Male Individual Poomsae, Chess- Female Classical, Scrabble- female singles and Chess- Female Classical Category.
The States silver medals came from Cricket (male) Taekwondo- Poomsae team, Swimming 100m Backstroke (Female), Taekwondo- -35kg Kyorugi (female), Scrabble (female), Beach Volleyball (female), Scrabble- Doubles (female) and 200m (Female).
The state also scooped Eight bronze meals in Table Tennis- Mixed Doubles
Karate- -50kg, Taekwondo- Individual Poomsae (female), Gymnastics, Male Vault, Taekwondo- -47kg Kyorugi female. High Jump Female, Swimming- medley female and Judo male.
Chioma Emma-Ibegbu, a gold winner in the female chess event said the game is good for the development of mental capacity.
Emma-Ibegbu who spoke after receiving her gold medal at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, said she was excited to win for her state as a second time contestant.
“It feels exciting to win gold, I am happy to win it this time around because I was here last year but I managed to come fourth,” she said.
Emma-Ibegbu said she had immense passion for chess and expressed willingness to play the game to the world stage if supported.
Coach of Team Anambra Volleyball team, Ndudi Ijeomah commended the players for retaining the gold they won in 2023, saying God made it possible.
Ijeomah expresses gratitude to Gov. Chukwuma Soludo for giving the children the opportunity to exhibit their skills as well as Patrick-Estate Onyedum, Chairman of Anambra State Sports Development Commission for providing leadership in the sector.
In his reaction while speaking to journalists in Asaba, the Chairman, Anambra State Sports Development Commission, Mr. Patrick Estate Onyedum expressed his happiness with the performance of the State team to the competition.
He attributed the performance of Team Anambra to the Anambra State Solution Initiative which gave rise to the return of school Sports in Anambra State.
He thanked Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo for having the return of schools sports as one of the agenda of his administration.
He disclosed that all the athletes representing Team Anambra were selected from the schools sports hence all of them are within the stipulated age range (u-15).
He stated that if not for the issue of ‘ Nigeria factor’ where people want to win gold at all cost, Team Anambra would have won twelve to thirteen gold medals.
He emphasized that Anambra State is more focussed on discovering and nuturing the kids to their full potentials.
