Enekwechi breaks national record in hammer throw
A Nigerian-American track and field athlete, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, on Wednesday broke a 36-year-old national hammer record at the ongoing 21st National Sports Festival (NSF) in Asaba.
Enekwechi threw the hammer over 67.45 metres to beat the 66.92m set by Christian Okoye at Westwood in the U.S. in 1986, seven years before he was born.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the athlete, who also beat the 59m NSF record, is representing Delta, the host state of the apex sports competition.
Born in 1993, Enekwechi is the 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medalist and reigning African champion in the shot put.
He beat fellow Delta athlete Ibrahim Baba and Michael Aiyegbeni of Akwa Ibom to win the gold medal in the hammer event of the festival.
Meanwhile, Team Cross River have secured a gold medal in the 400m women’s relay of the games, beating Ondo and Delta to the second and third positions respectively.
For men’s 400m relay, Samson Nathaniel of Delta won the gold medal, with Bayelsa and Oyo state settling for the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Akwa Ibom picked gold in the 5000m women race, pushing two athletes from Delta to the silver and bronze medals respectively.(NAN)
