Nigerian self sponsored Sculls Rower qualify for Rio semi-final

 

American-born Nigerian professional rower, Chierika ‘Coco’ Ukogu has qualified for the semi-finals of the Women’s Single Sculls Rowing event at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Chierika who sourced for fund to sponsored herself to Rio Olympic 2016 qualified for top classification in the rowing event.

She placed fifth in the third quarter-final of the women’s single sculls after clocking a time of 7:54.44 seconds.

The 23 years old first ever appearance in the Olympic will participate in the semi finals C/D 1 event on Wednesday.

The athlete, who is a graduate of Stanford University, was grouped alongside two other Africans in her quarter final race.

She qualified during the 2015 FISA African Olympic qualification regatta to represent Nigeria at the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, making her the first Nigerian to achieve such feat.

Chierika left her job in June as a women’s-health research coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania to train for six hours a day.