Trailer Crushes Nasarawa State Taekwondo Athlete To Death Few Hours After Returning Home

Trailer Crushes Nasarawa State Taekwondo Athlete To Death Few Hours After Returning Home

Our Reporter

Tragedy struck the Nasarawa State Ministry for Sports and Youth Development following the sudden death of one of its illustrious medal-winning athlete, Maria Raphael.

According to the Ministry, it was gathered from reliable sources that Maria was crushed to death by an articulated vehicle (trailer) along UAC Road, Lafia, while on her way to purchase some items from a grocery store on the evening of Friday, 26th August 2022, a few hours after returning home from a championship in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, where she represented Nasarawa State.

At the 15th edition of the Panama West African and Cottage Mills Taekwondo Championship held early this month in Lagos, the late Maria Raphael was one of the athletes who inspired Team Nasarawa to finish 4th position on the medals' table as she won a Bronze medal in the -46kg Women's Category at the Championship.

She also won a silver medal for Team Nasarawa at the recently concluded Bayelsa Open Taekwondo Championships held from 21st to 24th August 2022, in Yenagoa, South-South Nigeria.

The deceased was a committed, dedicated and focused athlete, winning medals of different categories for Nasarawa State, ranging from Cadet, Junior, and until her untimely demise, Senior Category.

Maria brought lots of glory and honour to Nasarawa State at different sporting championships. 

Her demise is an unquantifiable loss to every one of us at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and Nasarawa State as a whole, while her immense contributions will be sorely missed.

Our thoughts and prayers are with her immediate family, loved ones, fellow athletes and the sports world in general.