Lawal begins weightlifting medal hunt

Rafiatu Lawal will Thursday (today) kick-start Nigeria’s campaign in the weightlifting event of the 2024 Olympic Games, competing in the women’s 59 kg weight class at the South Paris Arena in France, According Sports Extra reports. Rafiatu qualified for the Olympics after getting the needed points in various championships she attended and will make her Olympic debut at this edition.

The 27-year-old lifter is a two-time African Games champion in 2019 and 2023 in Morocco and Ghana, respectively, as well as a Commonwealth Games champion in Birmingham 2022.

She will compete against 10 other weightlifters from around the globe for medals at stake in the women’s 59 kg.

The weightlifter will be up against reigning Olympic champion and China’s Chun Hsing Kuo, 30, a bronze medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Shifang Luo of China, who at just 23 years old is the current world record holder in the weight class with a lift of 248 kg, is another strong contender Nigeria will face.

Speaking with the Nigeria Wrestling Federation Media, Lawal said she hopes to make the most of her Olympic debut.

“I have prepared very well for this and am eager to give my best in Paris, France. It is my personal wish to do my best in the competition,” Lawal said.

“It is my Olympic Games debut, but I am not a greenhorn because I have taken part in many competitions that have equipped me for moments like this. I am going to the competition with the high hopes of giving my all to defend my fatherland.”

The President of the NWF, Dr. Ibrahim Abdul, charged Lawal to go all out and aspire to finish in the medal zone.”We in the NWF know what Rafiatu can do, and we are solidly behind her as she competes in the women’s 59 kg on Thursday,” Abdul said.

“We have prepared her for the Olympic Games in the best way possible, and we expect her to give a good account of herself in Paris.”