Team Nigeria continued their upward move on the Commonwealth Games Medals table after claiming their first silver medal on Tuesday.
Nigerian weightlifter, Taiwo Laidi clinched a silver medal at the ongoing 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The 19-year-old competed in the women’s 76kg weightlifting event, as she went on to finish second behind Canada’s Maya Laylor, who set a new Commonwealth Games record with a lift of 128kg.
Nigeria now has five medals altogether — two gold, one silver and two bronze medals — and all of them came from weightlifting.
Adijat Olarinoye and Rafiat Lawal claimed the two gold medals in the women’s 55kg and 59kg categories respectively and set new Commonwealth Games records.
Olarinoye set a new Games record with a lift of 203kg – 92kg in Snatch and 111 in Clean and Jerk while Lawal clinched gold with a total lift of 206kg – 110kg in Snatch and 116kg in Clean and Jerk – to win the women’s 59kg weightlifting event.
Another Nigerian Osijo will hope to also finish at the podium when she compete in the women’s 87kg being the last competitor for Team Nigeria in the weightlifting event.
Nigeria currently sits in 9th position on the medals table. Australia tops the chart with 71 medals, followed by England with 56. New Zealand completes the top three with 24 medals. South Africa is currently the best performing African nation at the games with 12 medals.
