Miriam Usman (vanguardngr)
Nigeria's number one weightlifter, Miriam Usman, could not make it to the medals zone at the world championships in Houston, no thanks to injury.
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Miriam had after snatching 125 kg failed to go far in clean and jerk as she was only able to lift 140 kg in clean and jerk only to injure her wrist.
Coach Andrew Ekanem disclosed to Daily Sunsports yesterday that Miriam started nursing the wrist injury right from home while in camp in Abuja.
“We couldn’t do any last minute replacement, if not, we could probably have substituted Miriam. We kept working on her wrist but the injury didn’t get better. It stopped her from going all the way in clean and jerk,” Ekanem said.
The other Nigerian lifter who competed in Houston, Victoria Adesanmi was also not anywhere near the medal zone as she finished 11th on the chart in the women 69 kg weight category.
Coach Ekanem was however full of praise for the lifter insisting that she did well by setting a new national record.
“Victoria’s lift of 102 kg was a new national record and she deserves a pat on the back for that feat. She has greatly improved and will do better in subsequent international outings,” Ekanem said.
The coach pointed out that the country can only compete for medals at the biggest weightlifting stage if the nation’s lifters are camped for a longer period before major outings.
“We don’t need to be breaking our camping exercise. This is a sport in which you do better when you camp for a very long period. If we are to do well at the African championship in May next year in South Africa, we must start camping now, “ Ekanem said.
Only two Nigerian lifters participated at the World championship in Houston. The competition ended yesterday with a dinner put together for all participants by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
-sunnewsonline
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