Port Harcourt  – New African and national records were set on Friday in the female weightlifting event at the ongoing 17th National Sports Festival in Port Harcourt which began on Monday.

The supervisor of weightlifting event, Steve Olarinoye, said in a statement in Port Harcourt on Friday that 17-year- old Chinenye Fidelis of Akwa Ibom set a new national record in the 53kg snatch event.

She lifted a total of 85kg to erase the old record of 82.5kg set by Patience Lawal of Kwara at the 2006 edition of the Games in Abeokuta, the statement said.

Fidelis, the statement further said, also set a new African record in the clean and jerk with a lift of 120 kg to erase the old record of 112kg also set by Patience Lawal.

It noted that the old African record in that category was set at the All Africa Games in Algeria in 2007.

According to the statement, Akwa Ibom are leading with five gold and four bronze medals in the weightlifting event.

Host, Rivers are second with two gold and one silver, while festival defending champion, Delta, are third with one  gold, two silver and one bronze.

Some 309 weightlifters are registered for the festival of which 245 are males and the rest females. (NAN)