It was an electrifying atmosphere at the Cinema hall of the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital venue of the shooting event of the National Sports Festival when Taiwo Ogunbanwo of Team Ogun defeated seven other shooters to claim gold in men’s 10metre air rifle.
Taiwo fired 24 shots in 12 rounds with 225.4 points to dislodge Nigeria’s number one from Delta State, Okposo Esugo, who scored 223.5 and Borno’s Samuel Okanlawon who polled 204.0 point to win the bronze medal.
It would be recalled that Okposo Esugo of Delta state has been dominating the gold medal in 10m air rifle for the past 15 years a feat, which earned him Nigeria number one shooter.
But Ogunbanwo’s heroic display on Thursday night has further improved Ogun State performance on the medals table.
Similarly, the duo of Taiwo Ogunbanwo and Oluremi Emmanuel claimed silver medals in the team’s 10m air rifle for Team Ogun. They lost the gold medals to Delta’s Okposo Esugo and Diri Joseph.
Reacting to his victory, Taiwo Ogunbanwo attributed his success to the adequate preparation and effective working tools provided by the Ogun state government to prepare for the festival.
Ogunbanwo said the N2.5 million promised by Governor Dapo Abiodun further motivated him and lifted his spirit.
