Nigeria Finishes 8th At The Common Wealth Games With 11 Gold

At the end of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, Team
Nigeria has finished in eighth position, winning 11 gold, 11 silver
and 14 bronze medals.

Sports Minister, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, has praised Blessing Okagbare,
who was the country's star of the championship and other athletes for
representing the country well.

Okagbare clinched a sprint double in the 100m and 200m, becoming the
11th woman ever to accomplish the feat and the first Nigerian. She was
only denied a treble by the Jamaican quartet in the women's 4X100m
final.

Danagogo said: "Okagbare has shown that with determination you can
achieve your dream in whatever endeavour you set out for yourself. She
has been consistent over the years and has remained focused despite
missing the ultimate medal in some competitions before now."

"I want to congratulate the other medalists for their effort and hope
that they will build on their successes in Glasgow for future
competitions especially as we begin preparations for the 2016 Olympic
Games."

The Minister however expressed his disappointment after 16-year-old
Chika Amalaha, was stripped of her gold medal for failing a doping
test.

"My heart bleeds for this 16-year-old girl," he said. "She looks too
innocent to commit such an offence. She is naive. We must get to the
root of this. The coaches and our anti-doping officials have questions
to answer. Why didn't they do their jobs before coming here to
disgrace Nigeria?

"It's disappointing that we have highly placed anti-doping officials
who did not do their jobs. It is embarrassing and severe punishments
will be meted out to those officials either for their involvement or
negligence, as a deterrent.