Team Athletics buoyant ahead All Africa Games

Although football normally attract so much attention, athletics no doubt has always come to the rescue of Nigeria in international competitions be it the Commonwealth Games or Olympics. It can therefore be reiterated that football brings all the glamour for the country but athletics contribute more medals.It will be recalled that athletics won Nigeria 10 […]

Although football normally attract so much attention, athletics no doubt has always come to the rescue of Nigeria in international competitions be it the Commonwealth Games or Olympics. It can therefore be reiterated that football brings all the glamour for the country but athletics contribute more medals.
It will be recalled that athletics won Nigeria 10 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze medals to help push the country to the third spot on the log in the 10th All African Games in Mozambique.
Consequently, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, led by Chief Solomon Ogba is promising to surpass its outing in the last edition of the All Africa Games. As stated earlier, it was the medals from athletics that lifted Nigeria very close to the pinnacle of the medals table in Maputo.
The Secretary of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Mr Bamiduro Olumide while speaking to SHOT! on the nation’s preparations for the 11th All Africa Games said he is confident the athletes that would be selected at the end of the Calabar meet will surpass its achievement in the last edition as only the best legs would be selected by the body to represent the country.
According to him, the forthcoming All Nigeria/Cross Rivers State Athletics Championship scheduled for July in Calabar will be the beginning of the long journey to achieving the desired result in Brazzaville.
“We have our traditional way of selecting our team; our national trial is our major yardstick.
“The forth coming All Nigeria Athletics Championship in Calabar is what we are going to make use of. We have already sent all the information about it to all our athletes both home and abroad,” the scribe disclosed.
He hinted that all the previous competitions organised by the federation ahead of the national championship is to keep the athletes in shape for the final show down in the Canaan city.
“Any athlete who did not do well in most of the earlier competitions may not do well in the championship that is why we used the competitions to prepare them.
“We don’t just wait for them to compete in the final competition for the selection of the list for the games because once the season starts, they continue to improve from one event to another,” he stressed.
Olumide who warned that the present performance of any athlete in their respective events is not be enough reason to be excused from the Calabar event which is the qualifying competition for the games, said, any athlete that fails to honour the Calabar meet will not make it to Congo.
“All what we are waiting for is the Calabar championship that we are going to use. Athletes’ present performance is not a guarantee for them to book a place in the list of athletes who would represent Nigeria. You must come home from wherever you are in the world to be part of the selection process.
“If you do not come home to participate in the All Nigeria Athletics championship you are out. If you noticed over the years that is what the AFN has been using when we have a mega game like the All Africa Games, Commonwealth and the Olympic Games,” Olumide said.
He said when the final team is selected, preparations for the games will commence simultaneously in the local and international scene.
“Once we select our team, training commence immediately for the All Africa games,” he added.
He hinted that the home based athletes will join other sportsmen and women in camp when the National Sports Commission would commence camping for the games.
“For those athletes at home when the general camping begins they will be part of it but for athletes like Blessing Okagbare who have their personal coaches and training, we will all put our heads together as a team to get the best programme and training for the best result”.
The scribe who described Nigeria as a continental and global power-house in athletics said with the programme planned by the federation and the determination of the athletes, the country will surpass her performance in the last games held in Mozambique.
“Based on our recent achievements in the World Athletics championships especially when you look at Blessing Okagbare who got silver and bronze in 2013, our feat in the last Commonwealth games and the African Senior Championship as well as the World Relay where we won the bronze medal in 4×400 metres race, I am quite sure we will improve on what we did in the last edition.
“We are going to come out with a good performance. You know we are a force to be reckoned with in Africa and globally. We are no push overs. We are trusting God that we would surpass what we did in the last All African Games in Mozambique,” he said.