By Solomon Nwoke, Port Harcourt
DELTA State wrestlers proved too hard a nut to crack in the Greco Roman style of wrestling in the ongoing 17th National Sports Festival in Port Harcourt as they won four out of the available Seven gold medals in the event.

Nwalue Dominic set the pace in the 55kg weight class and followed by Ituru Oke  in the 66kg weight class while in the 74kg class, Agiomor Kereme made it three and again, Soso Tarmara completed the tally in the 96kg weight category thus leaving the remaining three for the rest states to battle for.Ondo, Rivers and Edo were left to share the remaining three gold medals in the 60kg weight class, 84kg and 120kg weight classes respectively.

Adebayo Femi won the gold for Ondo in the 60kg while Smart Igboko got the 84kg weight category for Rivers State and Onyebuchi Ndubisi won the 120kg weight class for Edo state.Plateau state won two silver medals through .Sanda Makus and Baka  Naanmuap in the 55kg and 60kg weight classes respectively.

Others who won silver are Kano state’s Ebiparukame J in the 66kg, Philip Festus of Lagos state m the 96kg class, Haruna Badmoh of Ogun state in the 84 kg class, Abraham Onyemelusi of Ebonyi state in the 74kg and Rivers’ Sunday Okafor in the 120kg weight class Commending the wrestlers, the Technical Adviser of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Dr Daniel Igali gave kudos to Delta state for investing in the athletes.<BR>He said, “Delta did very well, won four out of seven gold medals. Not just that, they wrestled impressively. They went out there with the desire to every match which I quite applaud”.Chinenye sets sight on Olympics glory

Still smarting from her scintillating fit of smashing and resetting a five years old national and African record set by Patience Lawal in the 53kg female weight category, an upcoming queen of the barbell, Chineye Fidelis has set sight on Olympics glory.

Chineye who started lifting weight at the age of nine while in primary Four some years back has come of age to smash Lawal’s three records of 82kg in the snatch with a lift of 85kg, reset a record of 112kg in the clean and jerk with a lift of 120kg with a total haul of 205kg. She won the three gold medals at stake in her weight class.Reacting to her fit, the Imo state-born weightlifter competing for Akwa Ibom state express great delight that her hard training has yielded her recognition and laurel.

“I feel so glad to set a new record in a competition of this magnitude. Prior to this National Sports Festival, I trained so hard that every morning before going to school, I trained and prayed to God to give me the strength to my best. And having achieved this, I won’t stop at that as I will aim to perform the same fit at the Olympics”, she said while paying tribute to her mentors who were former weithlifters, Gloria Inyama and Biliksi Musa. She said&nbsp; the former athletes saw the potential in her and encouraged and also trained her to become a lifter.