By Nat Bayjay
Asaba, Nigeria -Wellington Zaza took 13.88 minutes to bring pride to his country Liberia with a bronze medal in the Men’s 110 Hurdles at the just ended 2018 African Senior Athletic Championship.
The continental athletic events were held in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria from the 1st to the 5th of August, 2018, a release from the Liberian Embassy in Nigeria says.
Zaza won Liberia’s lone medal on August 4, 2018. He was one of four Liberian athletes who represented Liberia at the Asaba games.
The other athletes of Team Liberia were Akeem Sirleaf (Men’s 200m), Otricia Borkuah (Women’s High Jump) and Kadmiel Enders (Men’s High Jump).
Mr. Bill Sirleaf was the Team Leader while Mr. Sayon Cooper served as the coach.
Meanwhile, Coach Cooper says he is now switching his focus on Team Liberia’s preparations for the 2019 17th Edition of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships to be held in Doha, Qatar.
“Our next focus is to qualify our athletes for next year’s World Championships”, Coach Cooper said.
He then expressed thanks and appreciation to everyone who made Team Liberia’s trip a success, “including Kouty Mawenh, a Liberian-US based track and field ambassador and former Liberian Olympian.”
Cooper said his goal is to request for funding to train more future Liberian Olympic hopefuls.
“Lastly, special thanks to my wife (Tangi Cooper) for being an awesome supporter by allowing me to achieve my passion of coaching track and developing our up and coming athletes”, he added.
Kenya was the overall winners of the events, with 11 gold, six silver, and two bronze medals. South Africa came second with nine gold, 13 silver, and eight bronze medals while Nigeria finished third with nine gold, five silver, and five bronze medals.
Morocco came fourth with two gold, three silver, and four bronze medals, Ethiopia took fifth place with two gold, two silver, and four bronze medals while the Ivory Coast finished sixth with two gold, two silver, and two bronze medals.
Tunisia, Botswana, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Benin, Ghana, Cameroon, Swaziland, Burundi, Guinea Bissau, Uganda, Eritrea, Zambia, Liberia, Congo, and Lesotho complete the table in that order.
