• Yussuf Alli welcomes stars to AFN All Comers in Benin City
Tokyo Olympics long jump bronze medalist, Ese Brume, and five other athletes will fly Nigeria’s flag in this year’s World Athletics Indoor Championships holding in Belgrade, Serbian. The Belgrade 2022 World Indoors will hold from March 18 to 20.
Nigeria will contest in three events, including women’s long jump, triple jump and 4×4 relay for men.
Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Samuel Onikeku, told The Guardian yesterday that the invited athletes will leave their base in the United States for Belgrade next week.
While Brume will fly Nigeria’s flag in the women’s long jump, Ruth Usoro will contest in the women’s long/triple jump. Team Nigeria’s athletes for men’s 4X400m relay are Sikiru Adeyemi, Ifeanyi Ojeali, Samson Ogehewegba Nathaniel and Timothy Emeogene.
The standard of the competition is expected to be extremely high as many Olympic champions are set to compete in Belgrade.
Meanwhile, athletes from various parts of the country will converge on the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City on Sunday for the AFN All Comers meet.
Newly appointed Edo State Sports Commission Chairman, Yussuf Alli, told The Guardian yesterday that every arrangement needed to make the athletes feel at home had been put in place.
“The All Comers is an AFN event, but we are on ground to give the competition the assistance it deserves,” Alli, who was confirmed last week by Edo State House of Assembly, said.
Alli, a Commonwealth gold medalist, former Team Nigeria Captain and national long jump record holder, was the Competition Director for Edo 2020 National Sports Festival, which was adjudged as one of the best organised in recent times.
The AFN All Comers event was earlier scheduled for last weekend at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, but it was moved to Benin City.
The shift in date, according to AFN Secretary General, Prince Adeniyi Adisa Beyioku, is necessitated by concerns by athletes and officials over the initial date.
The competition is the first of many the AFN has lined up to prepare Nigerian athletes for the African Championships in Mauritius, the World Championships in Oregon, U.S., as well as the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
As at yesterday, about 1,000 athletes from 12 states had signified their interest for the event, according to the AFN.
“We also have athletes from 25 clubs as well as the military and para-military services.”
