2nd April, 2012
A disabled Nigerian athlete, Okoko Margaret, has set a new African record in the F52 discus event at the recently concluded Paralympic qualifiers in Dubai, UAE.
Okoko, who achieved this feat in a time of 10:58, described the feat as a great achievement and promised to work harder to get better.
Speaking with P.M.Sports on arrival from the qualifiers, Margaret said: “I’m glad to break the African record and since we all know that champions are made and not born, I’ll keep working hard to get better in the game.”
Meanwhile, President of the Parathletics Federation of Nigeria, Frank Thorpe has described the success recorded by the Nigerian contingent to the Paralympic qualifiers in UAE and Tunisia as incredible.
Thorpe said that the disabled athletes were poised to make the country proud again as had always been the tradition.
He said: “We had three qualifiers, two in UAE and one in Tunisia. We won a total of 17 Gold, 14 Silver and 10 Bronze medals in Tunisia. At the end of the qualifiers, it was even discovered that one of our girls had broken the African record in F52, a Discus event.”
“Athletes will be called to camp very soon and will also be going on training tours and other qualifiers as well. I’m sure the disabled athletes will once again make the country proud. I can also assure Nigerians that the athletes will give us at least, 8 Gold medals if I’ll have to be modest,” the Secretary General of the Paralympic Committee of Nigeria concluded.
Captain of Team Nigeria to the qualifiers, Patricia Nnaji, who participated in the shot put event, said, “the team was very marvelous at the qualifiers and I want to assure Nigerians that my colleagues and I will keep working very hard to win gold medals at the Paralympics.”
—Damilare Okunola