Lauritta Onye
Rio 2016 Paralympics medalist, Lauritta Onye, and new comer Ifeanyichukwu Mmadubuike added two gold and a silver medal on Sunday evening to increase Team Nigeria medals at the Tunis 2019 Para Athletics Grand Prix to 6 gold, 4 silver.
Lauritta who suffered initial disappointment of being pushed to the second position in the F40 shot put event on day one went all out on day three to compete in all the throw events, finishing with a gold in javelin and silver in discus.
Ifeanyichukwu who has won gold in T46 100m on day one and set a new world record in 200m on day two also went in to produce gold in 400m on day three with a time of 49.56 seconds.
Lauritta struck the gold in F40 javelin with a distance of 18.89m while her throw of 21.25m in discus earned her silver. Her performance at the Grand Prix qualify her to compete in all three throw events at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games just as Ifeanyichukwu has earned tickets for the 100, 200 and 400 meters.
Other members of the team who have also earned tickets to the Paralympics are Flora Ugwunwa who won gold in F58 javelin and silver in F54 while Uwak Unyime Christopher won gold in 200m and silver in 100m.
With 10 medals from the 4-man team, Nigeria places fifth among the 34 countries in the competition, besting countries like Russia, Algeria, Norway, Mexico, South Africa, UAE, Saudi Arabia and others.
Ranked now among the Top 10 in the Grand Prix, Team Nigeria will enjoy the advantage of more slots to the Paris meet in August as well as the IPC Dubai World Championships in November, with the chances of earning more tickets to the 2020 Paralympic Games.
Ifeanyichukwu Mmadubuike