Mauritius-bound athletes open camp at NIS as Okowa visits team News

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Mauritius-bound athletes open camp at NIS as Okowa visits team

By Daily Sports Nigeria on June 2, 2022

Home-based athletes listed for the 22nd African Athletics Championships holding in Mauritius are expected to gather at the National Institute For Sports (NIS), Lagos, today.

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), on Tuesday, picked 54 athletes, including four African champions, Tobiloba Amusan (100m hurdles), Ese Brume (Long Jump), Chioma Onyekwere (Discus Throw) and Chukwuebuka Enekwechi (Shot Put) for the competition, which will hold between June 8 and 12.

The Guardian, learnt yesterday that the athletes and invited coaches would spend four days at the NIS before departing for Mauritius on June 6.

A source told The Guardian that AFN President, Tonobok Okowa, would hold a brief meeting with the athletes and their coaches at the NIS camp tomorrow.

Amusan will compete in two individual events and the 4x100m relay. She has been listed to compete in the women’s 100m alongside Godbless Tima Seikeseye and Praise Ofoku, as well as in the 100m hurdles, where she is set to defend the title she first won at the 21st edition of the Championships in Asaba four years ago.

Long jumper, Ese Brume, will be gunning for her fourth straight long jump title after winning in 2014, 2016 and 2018, while Onyekwere is seeking a second discus title after winning the gold medal four years ago in Asaba.

Shot Putter, Enekwechi will also be defending the event’s title he won in Asaba with a new 21.08m Championships record.

Also on the list are Orobosa Anabel Frank, who is the top ranked African so far this year in the women’s Shot Put with her 17.21m effort at the AFN All Comers competition in Benin in March, Oyesade Olatoye in the women’s Hammer throw, Fadekemi Olude in the women’s 10km walk, as well as Patience Okon George, bronze medal winner in the 400m event in 2014.

For the men, reigning African Games 100m champion, Raymond Ekevwo, will lead Seye Ogunlewe and Nicholas Mabilo as Nigeria seeks to return to the podium as champions 12 long years after Olusoji Fasuba was crowned the African speed king for the third straight time.

AFN Technical Director, Samuel Onikeku, told The Guardian yesterday that the athletes were carefully selected based on their performances in both the local and international athletics circuit.

“Some of our student athletes in the United States like Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, Imaobong Nse Uko, Favour Ashe, Udodi Onwuzurike, Nathaniel Ezekiel, Alaba Akintola and Nnamdi Prosper have qualified for the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships scheduled to hold in Eugene, Oregon, U.S. between June 8 and 11, 2022 and will thus not be available for the African Athletics Championships hence the decision to pick the bulk of the team from athletes based at home,” Onikeku stated.

He assured that the athletes selected would do the nation proud in Mauritius.

Nigeria won a total of 20 medals made up of nine gold, five silver and six bronze medals to finish third in the medals table behind Kenya and South Africa at the 21st edition held in Asaba, Delta.

The country, however, tops the all-time medals table with a total of 368 medals made up of 155 gold, 122 silver and 91 bronze medals.

Source The Guardian Nigeria

Posted June 2, 2022