36 participants for Youth weightlifting Championship in Ibadan

Thirty six Weightlifters will  participate in the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF) South West Zonal Championship slated for Ibadan, an official has said.

Louis Okoro, South West Representative of NWF disclosed this to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.

“The competition is targeted at the six states in the South West Zone. We expect that each state will present six lifters to make up the 36 lifters for the championship.

“The 36 lifters will be made up of 18 males and 18 females to take part in the Snatch and Clean and Jerk categories,’’ he said.

He said the championship tagged: Dr Lai Fatokun Memorial Youth Championship would hold at the Lekan Salami Sports Stadium, Ibadan, Oyo, on Feb 27.

Okoro said that the competition was targeted at reviving weightlifting in the zone, identify and showcase talents that were inherent in the state.

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He said the event was also in memory of Dr Lai Fatokun, one-time chairman of the Referees Council of Nigeria who died in an accident some years ago.

“We are doing a memorial championship in honour of Dr Lai Fatokun.

“For some time now, we have not had championship in the south west, but when I came on board at the NWF, one of my agenda is to organise constant competitions.

“When athletes are trained and they are not exposed to competitions, they get frustrated. I am hoping that with the cooperation of all stakeholders in the zone, we will be able to hold two to three championships in a year,’’ he said.

Okoro said that he was also hoping that the federation would be able to host African Weightlifting Championship before the end of the year.