Asaba 2018: Kenya Emerge Overall Champion with 11 Gold

Asaba 2018: Kenya Emerge Overall Champion with 11 Gold

A rush of six gold medals on the last day of the African Senior Athletics Championship saw Team Kenya pull a stunning upset over South Africa and host Nigeria to emerge the overall champion at Asaba 2018.

After their string finish on Sunday, the East Africans closed out the championship with eleven Gold, six Silver and two Bronze medals.

South Africa who led the medals chart until the last day for most of the events settled for second place with nine gold, 13 silver and eight bronze medals, while hosts, Team Nigeria had a total medal haul of nine gold, five silver and five bronze medals.

Team Nigeria, like their Kenyan counterparts, also finished on a strong note by winning three gold medals on the final day of action at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba, but it wasn’t enough to lift them on the medals table as they retained their position from the last event in Durban 2016.

The last set of gold medals for Nigeria came in the Triple Jump Event, 400m Women’s Hurdles Event and the 4x400m Women’s Relay event.

For the first time in the history of the African championships, athletes will not just go home with their medals, but with monetary reward.

The Local Organizing Committee Chairman Solomon Ogba announced that athletes who won gold medal will get a cash prize of $3,000 each.

He added that silver medalists will be rewarded with $2,000, while bronze medalists will smile home with $1,000.

The next edition of the biennial championship will be taking place in Algeria.