Kelvin Obambon|12 December 2018
ABUJA —Cross River State athletes in the ongoing national sports festival in Abuja, have so far secured 12 medals in three out of eight events they are expected to take part in NEGROIDHAVEN can report.
A breakdown of the medals shows that Cross River came second on the medal table in table tennis, with 2 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze. While FCT occupied the top spot with 3 golds, Bayelsa and Oyo States jointly snatched the third position with 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze each.
In weightlifting, Cross River got 1 gold in 135kg category, 2 silver in men's category, 1 silver in women's 88kg category, 1 silver in 140kg and another silver in women's clean and jerk, thereby bringing the total medals in weightlifting to 6.
In swimming, Cross River landed a bronze in men's 200meter mixed freestyle para-swimming and a silver in women's 50meter freestyle.
Meanwhile, Team Cross River is expected to participate in 5 more events expected to take place between Wednesday 12 and Saturday 15. The events are: athletics, taekwondo, wrestling, boxing and karate.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the close of yesterday's events, the leader of Cross River contingent to the national sports festival and chairman, Cross River Sports Commission, Chief Orok Duke, expressed sadness that the state came second in table tennis, saying Cross River has never been defeated in the past 18 years. He said the state has been concentrating on female table tennis over the years and that it has comparative advantage in that area.
Chief Duke added that Cross River has never won anything in male table tennis, and that winning a bronze in this year's national sports festival was a sort of consolation. He however expressed hope that the state would win more medals in the remaining events.
"We 've been concentrating on female table tennis. This is the first time we are winning anything in the male category… First time ever.
"Since 2000 nobody has beaten Cross River in female table tennis. This is the 18th year.
"The 8 sports we brought here are supposed to produce a minimum of 9 medals. We have limited resources, so we are concentrating on those sports that will give us medals. We are proceeding higher. There's hope we'll win medals in wrestling.", Duke said.
Obambon blogs for NEGROIDHAVEN
