Daughters of Imoke, Borno speaker shine at South African Gymnastics Championship 

Nigeria stood tall on the podium at the weekend in South Africa, where three daughters of former Cross River State Governor, Liyel Imoke, and one from the Bornu State House of Assembly Speaker, Alhaji Tukur won medals for the country at the just concluded African International Level System Championship.

The girls, Geda Liyel-Imoke, Volda Liyel-Imoke, Daval Liyel-Imoke and Safiya Tukur ended the competition with bronze medals at the championship, which attracted the best junior athletes from across the continent.According to report made available to The Guardian, the Nigerian TIG Gymnastics team won a total of 16 medals at the competition

The team, led by head coach, Anthony Asuquo won four gold, two silver and 10 bronze medals with 22 gymnasts participating in the event.Moferanoluwa Lawal, Yimika Kolade, Mindy Akinola and Avani won gold medals, while Nimishe Sandeep and Morola Lawal won silver.

Adila Salisu, Lara Anot, Iseoluwa Babarinde, Amaka Asemota, Daniella Asemota and Tamilore Falayajo also won medals at the event.Exhorting the team for a fantastic outing in South Africa, Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung said, “all thanks to God Almighty they are done with the first competition. The Nigerian team came out tops in the last edition of the championship. The coach is sure of bringing back more medals this year.”

He added,  “various sports in Nigeria are taking a new and higher dimension and with determination, we will reposition sports and place Nigeria among other global sports competitors across the world.”Nigeria will participate at the Regional and Junior Olympics Level competition from tomorrow to August 5.