The Nigerian lifted 142 kg, which gave her not just the Paralympics record, but also a new world mark.
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‘We really didn’t expect it to happen in the pursuit, ‘ said Turnham, ‘New Zealand have been dominant since London.
In sharp contrast, Mariyappan Thangavelu and Varun Singh Bhati, who won gold and bronze medals, respectively, at the Rio Paralympics, have received a muted response-only the sports ministry, the Tamil Nadu and UP governments have offered them cash rewards.
The 23-year-old comes into the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games in dominant form, after winning three Gold, a Silver and two Bronze at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championship.
But perhaps more significantly, the achievements of Nigeria’s Paralympians have cast those of the able-bodied counterparts into the shadows. China’s Yan Yang won the Bronze medal with a distant 128kg.
Elsewhere, Nigeria also picked up their first track and field medal on Sunday as Lauritta Onye won the women’s shot put in the F40 category, for athletes who are short in stature.
She swam a time of 2.24.90 minutes, beating her own world record by over half a second and defending the Olympic title from London four years ago.
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Earlier Lora Turnham and her pilot Corrine Hall won gold in the women’s B 3000m individual pursuit beating silver medallists New Zealand by almost three seconds. Cao Ningning won the Gold.
