Kaduna – The Sharm-El-Shelkh Triathlon Gold medalist, Sadiq Yahaya on Monday pledged to win more laurels for the Kaduna State in future competitions.
Yahaya, 13, won the gold in the junior category at a just-concluded Triathlon African Championship staged in Egypt.
The youngster made the pledge when he presented the trophy to the Kaduna State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Peter Everton in Kaduna on Tuesday.
Yahaya had earlier won the junior category of the competition which included a five kilometre swimming event, 40km cycling and road race covering 10km.
Yahaya, an JSS III student of Sardauna Memorial College Kaduna, presented the gold medal and an Olympic bike, worth N360, 000 to the commissioner.
The competition also earned the champion a ticket to participate in similar African Youths Triathlon Championship to be staged in South Africa in June.
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He also secured a ticket to take part in another event in Mauritius in December while also preparing for the Asia Triathlon Championship next year.
Speaking at the occasion, Everton congratulated the winner for the achievement and wished him well in future tournaments.
He urged youths to participate in sporting activities for enormous social and economic benefits.
The medalist told NAN that Nigeria was among eight countries that participated in the three events, where he emerged winner in the junior category.
“I am happy to participate in the competition as the only Nigerian that won the gold medal. I competed alongside 15 other contestants from different countries and wish to go higher.
“We started with swimming of five kilometers; then switched to 40k cycling, before eventually completing the 10 kilometers’’.
Yahaya Usman, the Head Coach, Swimming and father of the champion, expressed satisfaction at his performance and urged him to train harder ahead of other competitions.
“His achievement is a blessing to us in Kaduna State, his school and the nation at large’’.
He, however, enjoined the young athlete to pursue his sporting career alongside his educational pursuit so that he could have a fallback position when his sporting career would have been over. (NAN)