By Victor Kanayo
Only two Nigerian physically-challenged athletes – Maria Akpan and Destiny Agbo who attended GAPS, a Commonwealth Athletics event in South Africa have returned with four medals.
An official and spokesman of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) Tony Lezieanya who revealed this to Heritage Times HT, said the athletes, who were accompanied to the event by a Coach returned to Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city on Friday, March 24, 2023.
He said Akpan won Gold in the T 136, 100 metres, while Agbo on the other hand won a Gold and two Silver medals in female Javelin.
He also said the two athletes then won silver medals apiece from Discuss and Shot Put events.
GAPs is a Commonwealth Games Federation initiative, aimed at promoting a peace programme that supports inclusive sports pathways.
The goal of GAPs is to offer emerging athletes and coaches from the Commonwealth nations additional skills and resources.
This is driven through education as it supports inclusive sports pathways to also promote social change throughout the Commonwealth.
It was introduced during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games staged in Australia.
Nigeria and 51 other countries are members of the Commonwealth nations with headquarters in United kingdom.
These countries take part in Commonwealth Games every four years.
The most recent edition held in Birmingham last year, where and when Nigeria had their best performance ever.
