AYAC 2013: Nigeria rally with late Gold to deny Egypt victory - Day 4 wrap

400m Girls Final - Odiong Edidiong Ofonime (312) won Gold & Abimbola Junaid (306) won Silver / Photo credit: Segun Ogunfeyintimi

A rally of eight gold medals on the last day of competition propelled Nigeria to the top of the medals table in the maiden Africa Youth Athletics Championships (AYAC 2013) which concluded at the Warri Township Stadium on Sunday.

Nigeria thus finished in first position ahead of the over 30 countries on parade at the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) sanctioned event which saw young African athletes gather in South-South Nigeria for the four-day championships.

The final table released shows that Nigeria won with 13 gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze medals ahead of Egypt that led till the last day with eight gold, six silver and two bronze medals.

Ethiopia finished third with six gold, 13 silver and six bronze medals while Kenya was fourth with five gold, four silver and two bronze medals.

Gambia, Eritrea, Morocco, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Namibia completed the list of top ten of the medals table respectively.

Bright start

Nigeria started the day brightly by securing a 1-2 finish in the 400m hurdles girls where Glory Onome Nathaniel won gold in a time of 1:02.00 seconds ahead of her compatriot Aderonke Sarah Kadiri. Kadiri settled for silver in 1:02.92 seconds and Morocco’s Elghali Nezha clinched bronze in 1:04.99 seconds.

Nigeria also made it a double win in the sprints as her athletes followed up their victory in the 100m with victories in the 200m boys and girls event.

The duo of Divine Ejowvokoghene Oduduru and Deborah Adewunmi Adewale maintained their status as the fastest sprinters at the 2013 African Youth Championships.

Oduduru won the boy’s 200m race in a time of 21.56 seconds ahead of Ethiopia's Turie Haji Beker (21.90) and another Nigerian,  Adedeji Ismaila Yusuf (22.03) while Adewale coasted home in 24.13 seconds to win the girl's race ahead of her compatriot Ayomide Oluwatobiloba Amusan (24.45) and Ethiopia's Tamangnu Tegest Yuma (24.76).

In the Javelin event for girls, Veronica Kasie Ugeh’s throw of 44.33 metres got Nigeria a rare gold in the throws. Ethiopia's Dubale Bire Birinesh (40.35m) and Egypt's Aya Mohammed Tawfik Elsaeed Elk (36.31m) settled for the silver and bronze medals respectively.

The quartet of Cecilia Francis, Deborah Adewale, Ofonime Odiong and Abimbola Junaid won the medley relay for girls after clocking 2:09.36 ahead of Ethiopia (1:13.55) and Zimbabwe (2:22.33) in silver and bronze medals positions respectively.

There was also gold medals for Nigeria in the 400m hurdles girls, 110m hurdles boys and girls triple jump events.

Room for growth

There was also improvement on the performance of Nigeria athletes in long distance race where Nigeria girl Sarah Loveth Malagu won bronze medal in 5km walk with others finishing in respected position in 1500m girls and 3000m boys finals.

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has vowed to continue grooming these successful athletes for future competition by camping them together so that they can improve on their performance at the AYAC with the sole aim of leading Nigeria to glory at the next Olympic in Brazil 2016.

A total of 16 out of the 33 countries that took part in AYAC 2013 are represented on the medals table. But, Malawi, Swaziland, Congo, Zambia, Senegal and 12 others failed to win a single medal after the four-days event in Warri.

Mauritius will host the second edition of the AYAC event series in 2015.

Final Medals Table

Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
Nigeria
13
10
12
35
Egypt
8
6
2
16
Ethiopia
6
13
6
25
Kenya
5
4
2
11
Gambia
2
0
0
2
Eritrea
1
1
1
3
Morocco
1
0
3
4
Uganda
0
1
0
1
Burkina Faso
0
1
0
1
Namibia
0
0
2
2
Mauritius
0
0
2
2
Benin
0
0
2
2
Zimbabwe
0
0
1
1        

(Edited by Yomi Omogbeja)

Download and See Full Medals Table & Complete Results below:

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