BEVERLY HILLS, May 21, (THEWILL) – In a concerted bid to provide an avenue for the country’s athletes that have readied themselves for the qualifying series ahead of the Tokyo Olympics but have been unable to participate in any competition due to organisational bottlenecks and the cancellation of the African Athletics Championships, Lagos is preparing to pick the hosting rights after original hosts Algeria cited COVID-19 concerns.
This news comes from the former President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Solomon Ogba, who noted that there was a precedence of Nigeria hosting the championship recently as Asaba, Delta State did in 2018. The assurance of another host comes with the hope that the athletes who are ready will not miss out on qualifying for the events.
This is the latest in trying to organise for Nigerian track and field contingent preparing for the Tokyo Games to have a means to qualify after the visa shenanigans of Poland. THEWILL recalls that the 24 athletes who missed Poland had looked forward to participate at the African Senior Athletics Championships scheduled from June 22 to 26 at the Mohamed-Boudiaf Olympic Complex in Algiers, Algeria.
They included some athletes who were left out of the Texas qualifiers that a 16-strong Team Nigeria contingent were flown to on Thursday, May 6, and who were being prepared to claim their slots for their events in Tokyo through the African Athletics Championship.
However, this important and eagerly anticipated gateway to some relay events at the Olympics and one of the last-resort qualification windows for Nigeria to Tokyo was subsequently placed on hold by the Algerian government due to the health situation linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to organisers, they were following “the recommendations “of Algeria’s scientific committee for monitoring the evolution of the pandemic and the country’s Ministry of Youth and Sports (MJS), who asked the organisers to call off the original start date of the Championships with no certain future dates provided for suspense-filled athletes.
For these athletes, this had the implication of jeopardising all their chances to meet up with the requirements of partaking in Tokyo because the qualification window for the Olympic Games was due to be shuttered on June 29 and there was a growing shortage of athletic events that classify as qualifying series for Tokyo.
That was what necessitated the push to get the city of Lagos to pick up hosting rights and organise the Championships before that deadline and give the athletes ready to participate the opportunity to qualify for the biggest stage of competitive sports and games. But, the final determination of hosts rests with the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA).
According to Ogba: “The CAA will make a pronouncement on it soon to help the athletes plan their calendar. For now, the competition is still on the card because it has a lot of importance for African countries going to the Olympics.”
The encouraging news is that Nigeria is not the only country making a bid for the rights to host the Championships as Tunisia and Zambia have submitted their hosting bids as well. This means there is a lot of interest in seeing the Championships take place but time is of essence and the CAA must reach a decision quickly.
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.
