Team Edo on Saturday dominated the 100-metre sprint at the ongoing 22nd National Sports Festival held at the mainbowl of the MKO Abiola Sports Arena in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Chidera Ezeaku returned in an unofficial time of 10:27 to win the gold medal.

On Ezeaku’s heels for the silver medal were his compatriots from Edo State, Enoch Adegoke and Emmanuel Taiwo from Rivers State who won the bronze medal.

Speaking after his victory, Ezeaku attributed the victory to intense preparations for the race.

He said, “I can say that I was well prepared for the sports festival, what I need to win the race is to get good from the blocks and maintain the first 60 seconds and off I go. I have gone through lots of training with my coach which is not an easy one, I really need to get this done which eventually came through. I am not scared of any of the athletes, what I will do now is to go home and get my body fixed to push further. I must prepare for the 4×100 race which I believe is going to be gold medal for Team Edo.’’

On what the future holds after his emergence as Nigeria’s fastest man, Ezeaku said he looked forward to greater challenges.

Ezeaku stated, “This time round it is a great future for me, I am not under any pressure, I just need to be focused, get everything done and I am good. Big thanks to Team Edo, they have been behind me since and now I am behind them, giving them the gold is not an easy feat because that was what I promised from the day one. The next thing for me now is the world championship.’’

A U.S-based medal hopeful, Favour Ashe from Delta State, was disqualified from the race over an alleged infraction.

(NAN)