August 29 2021
Team Nigeria's captain to the ongoing Tokyo 2020 paralympic games Lucy Ejike has charged Nigerian athletes at the games to be more cautious when competing in their various events.
Ejike who is participating in her 6th paralympic games lifts 130kg in the 61kg class to win bronze for Nigeria behind Mexico and Uzbekistan in gold and silver.
She explained that her first lift puts her in the gold medal position but with the officiating of the umpires, she was pushed down to bronze.
" I was very shocked and I felt so bad, because when the game started I was leading as my first attempt covered gold. But all of a sudden my second and third lifts were cancelled, which dropped me to third".
She however promised to continue working hard to see that she avoids such occurrence in subsequent international outings.
On her record at the paralympic games, Ejike was thankful that her record still stands as no one was able to break the record.
" I thank God, the world record is still mine. Nobody came close to my record. I prepared to break the record and set new one but due to the circumstances that are beyond my control I couldn't do it this term, but I am appealing to Nigerians not to feel bad as I will still work hard to break that record and set a new one".
To other Nigerain para power lifters at the games, Ejike charged them to be very careful and courageous while competing.
This is the first time she's winning a bronze medal at the games. She claimed gold medal in the -44kg class in Athens 2004 paralympic games, gold in the -48kg class at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and another gold in the -61kg class in Rio 2016 Paralympic games. She was silver medallist in the -44kg class in Sydney Paralympic games in 2000 and also in the -56kg class at the London 2012 games.
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