Team Nigeria has continued in making Nigerians proud at the on-going London 2012 Paralympic Games making the country take the lead ahead of other African countries on the medals table.And to make sure that title does not off; Powerlifters Folashade Oluwafemiayo and Victoria Nneji won silver and bronze medals respectively yesterday.
Oluwafemiayo also broke the world record twice before setting a new one at 148kg to knock off Chinese Taoying Fu’s 147kg effort in the women’s powerlifting -75kg class.
Oluwafemiayo and Fu lifted 146kg in their third attempts respectively but the Chinese was awarded the gold medal because she weighed 2kg less than the Nigerian. Fu weighed 72.53kg, while Oluwafemiayo weighed 74.17kg. Tzu-Hui Lin of Chinese Taipei won the bronze medal with her 137kg lift.
Their fourth attempts where Fu lifted 147kg and Oluwafemiayo 148kg were not to determine the winner but to have a new world record in the category.
Meanwhil, Nneji claimed her failure to win gold was due to a shoulder injury she sustained during camping for the Games in Korea after her poor start in the women’s powerlifting -67.5kg class.
She lifted 125kg to finish behind France’s Souhad Ghazouani (gold) and China’s Yujiao Tan (silver). Ghazouani had lifted 146kg in her first attempt but failed to complement in the subsequent attempts, while Nneji was only able to lift 125kg in her third attempt.
