Sports Briefs
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RASMANE Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso, cycling rider has successfully defended his Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS cycling tour in Abidjan, Cote d’ Ivoire, on November 17. Ouedraogo emerged the overall champion of the 3rd edition of the regional competition. By that victory Ouedraogo has successfully defended the title he won two years ago.
This year’s race, which commenced on November 13 in Lagos, Nigeria, terminated in Abidjan, Cote d’ Ivoire, with Ouedraogo, who claimed to have deployed new tactics of staying in background, ensuring a superlative finish among the top five at each stage. He waited until the final stage to give his best with a cumulative 30 points. Isiaka Fofana of Cote d’ Ivoire came overall second with 27 points, while Abdoul Aziz Nikiema also of Burkina Faso with 25 points to place third.
Bassey Nelson Okon of Nigeria, who put up an impressive showing, winning in some of the intermediate sprint events, however came fourth with a cumulative point of 23. Oumar Gueye of Senegal placed fifth with 21 points, while Ajibade Qodir, another Nigerian, with 19 points was sixth.
In the general overall sprints classification, Kaleb Kalizibe of Nigeria emerged second with nine points behind Nikiema of Burkina Faso with 17 points. Two other Nigerians, who had vastly improved in this edition, Qodir with three points and Okon with two, were among the best 15 sprint finishers in this year’s edition of the biennial competition.
— Dec. 2, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT
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