By Gbenga Jolaosho
Abuja
Nigeria’s lone rower at the ongoing Rio Games, Chierika Ukogu believes her chances of winning medal in rowing for Nigeria is still course.
Ukogu progressed to the quarterfinals of the rowing as one of the automatic qualifiers in her event after finishing 3rd in Heat 5 of the women’s Single Sculls on Saturday.
The Nigerian representative says she is fully prepared for the quarterfinals stage of the competition and set to make the semifinal.
Ukogu clocked a time of 8.35.34 to finish third behind Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig (8:26.83) and Miroslava Knapková of the Czech Republic (8:28.90), who finished first and second respectively.
The rowing event was held at the Lagoa Stadium, as the rowers competed in six heats, with the Top 3 qualifiers in each heat making it to the next round of the competition.
“The wind as has been so turbulent. Making rowing is very difficult and unsteady. I’m really looking forward to the next stage, and progress to winning medal for Nigeria.
“I’ve worked hard to be part of the Games. This is my first appearance at Olympic and am going to make a memorable experience,” she said.
The 23-year old Ukogu, who is making history as the first ever Nigerian to qualify for the Rowing event at the Olympics, placed 15th in the overall standings comprising of 32 rowers.
The quarterfinals of the women’s Single Sculls come up on Tuesday, August 9 from 1.10pm.
Meanwhile, high winds actually caused all the Olympic rowing events to be cancelled and rescheduled for today.
The weather caused problems on Saturday for Serbs Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik, who capsized during their men’s semi-final qualification at Lagoa.
Play was also delayed on the outside tennis courts due to the wind, while the start of the canoe slalom event was delayed by one hour.
