The Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, has shifted by three days the beginning of the 2022 Nigeria Athletics Championships which can function choice trials for the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA and the Commonwealth Video games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
The AFN, in a press assertion signed by its Technical Director, Samuel Onikeku, says the change is necessitated by the necessity to accommodate all athletes who’ve signified curiosity within the championships and have met the entry normal for the occasion.
‘The aim of the championships this 12 months is to pick the most effective legs for the World Athletics Championships and the Commonwealth Video games and as a responsive federation, we’ve to accommodate athletes who can solely arrive this weekend because of flight connections to have a couple of days of relaxation,’ mentioned the technical director.
The previous monitor star says the transfer was additionally necessitated by the necessity to get all our athletes prepared, particularly the sprinters and the quartermilers who shall be searching for to qualify the relay groups for the World Athletics Championships.
‘As at now, solely the ladies’s 4x100m and the blended relay groups have certified for Oregon.The boys’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay groups are but to qualify in addition to the ladies’s 4x400m relay group,’ added Onikeku.
The AFN chief government officer believes the ladies’s 4x100m and the blended relay groups will even want to enhance on their present rating now to ensure qualification. ‘Nigeria is ranked sixteenth in each occasions which suggests we’re occupying the final qualification spot.
This doesn’t give us the assure we are going to nonetheless be in Oregon in these relay occasions.’ With the present standing of our athletes worldwide, Onikeku is assured Nigeria will current groups in all 5 relays in Oregon and are available again with at the least two medals. ‘This knowledgeable our determination to alter the dates for the Nigeria Championships. Now we have to get our greatest athletes able to get the relay tickets,’ he mentioned.
