Director General of Lagos State Sports Commission, LSSC, Hon. Lekan Fatodu, has some tough words for other states participating in this year’s National Youth Games in Asaba, Delta State.

According to him, Team Lagos is in the tournament for real winning business to surpass the number of medals won at the last edition of the competition in 2023.

The Lagos youngsters in the colours of Lagos State stormed Asaba, the venue of the National Youth Games on Monday in readiness for the competition ahead of the commencement of hostilities on Thursday.

From a sterling performance at the Ball Games Zonal Elimination in Osogbo, Osun State, Team Lagos is already sounding note of warning that the team is coming for the championship with this winning mentality.

“Our target at the Games is to increase on the numbers of medals won from the last edition and to move up from the position we had last year. We are determined and really trained and prepared,” the Director General said on Sunday during an interview at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Rowe Park, Yaba, Lagos.

Team Lagos placed second on the medal table in the 2023 edition of the NYG after they won 21 gold, 19 silver and 21 bronze medals.

“This year, our target is to win more gold. I am glad to say that our youngsters are so determined going into the Games with this mindset to increase the medal haul.

“Lagos is going for a festival of gold, a festival of medals, festival of excellence and superiority of Lagos State at the 8th National Youth Games,” Fatodu said.

Ugandan athlete, Rebecca Cheptegei is in critical condition in a Kenyan hospital, after allegedly being doused with petrol and set on fire by a former boyfriend.

The 33-year-old marathon runner, who competed at the recent Paris Olympics, had suffered burns to more than 75% of her body, police said.

She was attacked at her home in western Kenya, where she had been training.
There are concerns about the increasing cases of violence against female athletes in Kenya, some of which have resulted in death.

Ms Cheptegei is said to have been rescued by neighbours after the incident that happened on Sunday at her home in the small town of Endebess.

The alleged attacker also sustained serious burns, local police chief Jeremiah ole Kosiom told journalists.

The two are being treated at Moi Referral Hospital in Eldoret, the main town in the region.

“The couple were heard quarrelling outside their house. During the altercation, the boyfriend was seen pouring a liquid on the woman before burning her,” Mr Kosiom was quoted as saying.

Ms Cheptegei, from a region just across the border in Uganda, is said to have bought a piece of land in Trans Nzoia county and built a house, to be near Kenya’s many athletic training centres.

A report filed by a local administrator said the two had been wrangling over the piece of land. Police say an investigation is under way.

Ms Cheptegei finished 44th in the marathon at the recent Paris Olympics.

She also won gold at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.

In April 2022, another female runner, Damaris Mutua, was found strangled in a home with a pillow over her face in the Rift Valley town of Iten.

It came months after record-breaking long-distance runner Agnes Tirop was found stabbed to death in the same town.
Men have also been targeted.

Last December, another Ugandan athlete, Benjamin Kiplagat was stabbed to death by assailants in Eldoret.

Triathlete Dave Ellis opened Great Britain’s medal account on day five of the Paralympics, taking gold in the men’s PTVI event in Paris.

It did not take long for Megan Richter and Hannah Moore to add gold and bronze respectively in the women’s PTS4 event as crowds flocked to the banks of the Seine, with 11 triathlon events taking place on one day.

Tokyo 2020 medallists Claire Cashmore and Lauren Steadman won silver and bronze respectively in the women’s PTS5 event, while Dan Bethell took badminton silver in the SL3 singles, losing a tight match to India’s Kumar Nitesh.

Ellis and Richter took GB’s gold tally to 25 and their overall medal count to 48 – second only to China (78 medals, including 37 golds), who have topped the table at the past five Games.

Ellis and guide Luke Pollard made up for heartbreak in Tokyo by winning gold in the men’s PTVI event.

They went in as favourites three years ago but suffered a mechanical failure on the bike leg which ended their race.

There were no such issues in the French capital, with Ellis and Pollard putting in a dominant final run leg to move up from third and finish in a time of 58 minutes 41 seconds.

Paralympic debutant Richter swiftly followed with victory in the women’s PTS4 competition, finishing in one hour 14 minutes 30 seconds.

Alison Peasgood took fourth in the women’s PTVI alongside guide Brooke Gillies, having returned to the sport after the birth of her son Logan last August.

Steadman and Cashmore go head to head
There were some familiar faces at the front of the women’s PTS5 event, with all three Tokyo medallists returning to the podium.

Three years ago it was GB’s Steadman who took the title, finishing ahead of team-mate Cashmore, who took bronze, and American Grace Norman.

This time it was Norman who triumphed, coming ahead of Cashmore and Steadman.

The trio share a strong bond – Steadman and Claire Cashmore were schoolmates in Devon, while the Tokyo gold medallist was Norman’s bridesmaid when she got married.

It has been a tough few years for Steadman, who has suffered with long Covid and returned to triathlon after a spell in winter sports, but she now has a second Paralympic medal.

Cashmore’s haul now stands at 10, with a podium place at every Games since Athens 2004.

Badminton silver for Bethell
Bethell was edged out for gold in the men’s SL3 singles.

Having lost the first game 21-14, Bethell fought back to level the tie, taking the second game 21-18.

The two athletes went right down to the wire, reaching 21-21, but Nitesh won successive points to close out the match.

It will fall on Krysten Coombs to try and bring home a first GB gold in the sport when he face Charles Noakes of France in the men’s SH6 singles final at about 21:00 BST on Monday.

Can Peacock bounce back?
At the Stade de France British attention focuses on Jonnie Peacock, who will be attempting to win his third Paralympic gold in the men’s T64 100m final at 18:50.

Peacock finished on top of the podium in London and Rio, but finished with a bronze medal in Tokyo three years ago.

Meanwhile, six-time gold medallist David Weir will be in action in the first round of the men’s T54 1500m (20:25).

In the morning session, Tunisia’s Walid Ktila failed to win a fourth consecutive men’s T34 sprint title, finishing second to Thailand’s Chaiwat Rattana.

In the first round of the women’s T12 400m, Italy’s Valentina Petrillo, the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the Paralympics, qualified from her heat after finishing second with a time of 58.35 seconds.

Petrillo, won bronze in the World Championships last year, will race in the semi-finals at 19:43.

Two of the three GB competitors qualified for the final of the women’s T54 1500m – Melanie Woods and Samantha Kinghorn both set qualifying times, but Eden Rainbow-Cooper, whose medal hopes were ended by a collision in the 5,000m final, missed out with a seventh-place finish in her heat.

Ellie Challis was Britain’s youngest medallist at the Tokyo Games when she won silver in the S3 50m backstroke at the age of 17.

She will hope to go one better in Paris (17:05) after winning Monday morning’s heat in 53.86.

Louise Fiddes is also in with a chance of winning a medal in the women’s SB14 100m breaststroke final (17:20), after she finished second in her heat in 1:17.46.

Team-mate Olivia Newman-Baronius will join her, claiming the final qualification spot with a fourth-place finish in her heat, while Harry Stewart will race in the men’s SB14 100m final after finishing third in his morning race.

BBC