June 17, (THEWILL) – The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) is preparing three sets of athletes to represent the country at competitive international meets and will require financial support to pull it off.
At the national trials in Benin City organised by the AFN, qualified sportsmen and women, who will be fielded as part of Team Nigeria, will compete at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, the World Senior Athletics Championship in Oregon, USA and the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.
The need to expedite action on these trials was pertinent as the events are imminent. The Oregon Athletics Championship will start July 15 and last for 10 days before being followed by the Commonwealth Games from July 28 to August 8, while the World U-20 Athletics Championship will take place from August 1 to 6.
Nigeria finished third in the World U-20 Athletics Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, with four gold and three bronze medals, making it one of the country’s most significant sporting triumphs. Nigeria has never finished higher than seventh in a medals table before the Nairobi event, with two gold, two silver, and two bronze medals in 1990 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
The AFN is still looking for funding to prepare for and carry out the three missions. To this end, the Federation President Tonobok Okowa is in discussions with Sports Minister Sunday Dare about how to fund the competitions as African champions led by Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Raymond Ekevwo, Ese Brume, Tobi Amusan, and Chioma Onyekwere converge for the trials.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
