The Lagos State Boxing Team in the ongoing National Sports Festival has maintained the tradition as the powerhouse of Nigerian amateur boxing by hauling 5 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals, the highest number of medals from the pugilist trade.
Shittu Afolabi opened the gate of victories for Lagos in his bout on Tuesday when he beat Team Ogun’s Kasali Abayomi 3-2 in the 52kg male contest to pick the gold medal from the fight.
Omole Dolapo dominated his Bayeslsa opponent, Godstime whom he beat 5-0 in the 56kg, winning the second gold for Team Lagos, while the third gold was won by Adesodun Michael who also defeated Ogun State’s Fajimi Taiye in the 60kg bout.
An interesting fourth gold was won by Abudlazeez Osoba who did not throw any punch on the ring as his opponent, Abua Christian from Cross River was penalised by the officials for failing to attend weigh-in early on Tuesday, hence the fight was declared abandonment in favour of the Lagos boxer.
Oraekwe Blessing and Fatimo Aromokola were able to settle for silver medal each as they were defeated by Kate Peter from Edo and Delta state’s Blessing Smart in 69kg and 75kg respectively.
On Wednesday, in the 91kg fight Gabriel Francis of Lagos defeated Adedeji Agboola from Ondo give the Team Lagos fifth gold medal.
Although there was an initial postponement of the fight by the Nigeria Boxing Federation due to the stampede and violence caused by fans of Team Edo.
The Lagos State Deaf Sports Team also won six gold, four silver and two bronze medals to top the log as association with the highest medals thus far.
