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Nigeria’s Praise Ikweki on Wednesday secured a bronze medal in the High Jump event at the ongoing Confederation of African Athletes (CAA) U18/U20 Championships in Abeokuta.
The competition witnessed the finals of high jump, triple jump, 1500m and the 100m heat for both male and female categories.
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Ikweki, paired with Melvin Ododo, began at 1.80m. He posted a perfect record until a near miss at 2.03m. He then secured advancement to the next round on his third attempt.
He missed his three attempts at 2.06m after hitting the pole, paving the way for South Africa’s Mateo Le Roux, who won the gold.
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In the U18 Heat One, 100m event race, South Africa’s Mukona Manavhela finished 11.38, behind Nigeria’s Igbigbidje James Clifford at 11.44 to qualify for the semi-finals.
Also, Adeola Adeniji took the lead, finishing 11.08, while Algeria Bouhdila Yasser finished 11.14, to grab the semi-final ticket in Heat 2.
South Africa’s Jayen Foure ran swiftly to finish 10.65 behind Nigeria’s Egbon Destiny Chinedu, who finished 10.85 in Heat 3.
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In the female category, Nigeria’s Mariam Jegede won the first U18 Girls 100m heat after returning at 12.13sec, while Congo’s Boukama Gladys finished in second place at 12.47sec.
Ghana’s Darkoah Kwateng ran 12.64sec to settle for third place.
Miracle Ezechukwu topped Heat 2 of the U18 Girls 100m with a time of 11.79s (+0.1 wind). She outpaced South Africa’s Oluchi Ndubueze (11.93s) and Cote d’Ivoire’s Andre Marie Joseph (12.26s) for the win.
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In the U20 100m heat, Nigeria’s Lucy Nwankwo recorded a new Personal Best (PB) of 11.80s (-0.5) to win her 100m heat, while Success Oyibu won heat 1 of the U20 women’s 100m after she finished in a time of 11.87s (-1.4).
After his race, Ikweki, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the bronze medal was not his target and that he was under serious pressure to win.
He, however, said that the exposure gained at the championship would propel him to achieve his target for gold at the other local and international events.
(NAN)
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