Zone 2 Kaduna amassed 11 gold, 14 silver and 10 bronze medals to emerge winners of the maiden Kaduna State Commissioner for Sports (Dr Kabir Mato) Zonal Athletics competition concluded at the weekend.
Zone III Kafanchan won 11 golds, 11 silvers and 11 bronze medals to place second at the competition held at Ahmadu Bello Stadium track, while Zone I Zaria placed third with 5 golds, 6 silvers and 6 bronze medals.
Abdulaziz Oyetunji from zone 2 made it a sprint double after winning the 200m race with 20.8secs, Collins Eze also of zone 2 ran 21.8secs to place second, while Monday John won bronze with 22.8secs.
Rotkeng Ishaya of zone I also added the women 200m gold medal to the one she won in the 100m with a race of 25.25secs, beating Comfort Sule of zone 2 (25.8secs) and Hajara Haruna of zone 2 (26.1secs).
A dramatic 4×100m men relay race saw zone zone 3 came from behind to win at the tape after the favourites, zone 2 had led for most of the race. Zone 3 ran 42.8secs to defeat zone 2 who ran 43.2secs. Zone I came third with 43.5secs. Zone 2 won the women 4×100m with a time of 50.4secs. Zone I was second in 51.5secs while zone 3 won bronze with 58.6secs.
Salisu Habeeb of zone I ran an impressive 1min:54.7secs to win the men 800m ahead of Emmanuel Bawa of of zone 2 (2min:1.4secs) and Bulus Parista zone 2 (2min:3.9secs). Verity Umaru of zone 2 won the women 800m in 2min:80.06secs, as zone 3’s Precious Friday came second in 2min:86.28secs and Blessing Joseph ran 3min:11.46secs to win bronze.
Speaking after the race, Kaduna state Commissioner for Sports Development, Dr Kabiru Mato, who was represented by the Director of Sports, Alhaji Yakubu Ibrahim, congratulated the winners and commended the organisers, Kaduna State Athletics Association, while assuring that another athletics competition will take place before end of the year.
“This is the first edition and it has been very exciting and interesting. We are proud of the athletes. We know there are challenges but bear with us, this should not deter you. We would soon inaugurate the Kaduna State Athletics Association, the board has been constituted and I want you to support them.”
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