Teenager Wins Nigeria's First Gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games

Nigeria’s good run in weightlifting continued as 16-year-old weight lifter Joy Chika Amalaha won the country’s first gold medal in the women’s 53 kg category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games on Friday.

Amalaha who is the current African record holder in her category, lifted a total of 196 kg in snatch, clean and jerk to get the Gold medal. New Guinea lifter Dika Toua, who is a mother of two, took the silver with a total lift of 193 kg, while 20-year-old Santoshi Matsa from India grabbed the bronze medal after lifting a total of 188 kg.

Amalaha led the snatch event with the best of 85kg and went on to break the Games Record with a lift of 111 kg each in the clean and jerk section.

This is Nigeria’s second medal from the weightlifting event after Nkechi Opara won bronze on the opening day of the event.

Nigeria now occupies the 7th position on the medals table. England continue to dominate the table with a total of 32 medals which includes 12 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze medals and is closely followed by Australia with 10 gold, 9 silver and 12 bronze medal making a total of 31 medals, while host, Scotland is in 3rd position with 7 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze making a total of 14 medals.