Nigeria on Sunday emerged as the third overall best team at the just concluded 19th Union of African Karate Federations (UFAK) Western African Championships in Guogaduoguo, Burkina Faso.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Karate Federation of Nigeria (KFN) karatekas participated only in the female event in the Senior Category which held from Aug. 2 to Aug. 7.
Silas Agara, KFN President who confirmed the result to NAN on Sunday, said that Team Nigeria dazzled in the event, finishing as the third overall best team out of a total of 14 countries which took part in the six-day championships.
He explained that the tournament was a developmental event towards the All Africa Games, Commonwealth and the Olympics for Nigerian karatekas in the country.
He revealed that in preparation for the tournament, the Nigerian team camped at the National Institute for Sports in Lagos from July 27 to Aug 1.
“The KFN attended the 19th UFAK Western African Championship in Guogaduoguo the Capital of Burkina Faso which was an excellent outing for Nigeria as our karatekas gave a good account of themselves.
“We returned with a superlative performance of three gold, three silver and one bronze out of six medal events to finish third with an all-female team coached by Amenze Atoe-Jude and assisted by Efezino Akpotu.
“Ngozi Okoro won gold in the +50kg category, while Godfirst Samson also won gold in the +55kg.
“Choima Ani got the third gold medal in the +68kg category.
“The duo of Elizabeth Ogaga and Ibiene Finebon won silver medals, while Alice Henry also won bronze in the -68kg in the KATA (the performance of a series of predefined sequences) event,” he said.
NAN also reports that hosts Burkina Faso topped the medals table with 14 gold, 14 silver and 35 bronze, while Cote d’ Ivoire finished second with 12 gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze.
Both Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire competed in all the categories including the Cadet, Junior and Senior events, while Nigeria only took part in the senior event of the female category and completely dominated the event.
The list of countries which participated in the championships include: Ghana, Togo, Benin Rep, Niger, Burkina Faso, Cote Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria, Mali, Gambia, Serria Leone, Mali and Guinea.