Sports
Nigeria Begins Quest For Olympics Spots In Relay
Team Nigerian have started their quest for tickets to all five relay events of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in other countries at the World Athletics Relays, which began last Saturday in Nassau, Bahamas.
The two-day global event was suspected to feature 893 athletes from 54 countries vie for slots at the centenary games last Saturday and Sunday, as confirmed by World Athletics.
The event serves as a qualifier for the Paris Olympics, with the top 14 teams in each event at the World Athletics Relays Bahamas 24 qualifying automatically for places at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The remaining two places in each discipline will be awarded based on top lists during the qualification period (December 31, 2022, to June 30, 2024).
Team Nigeria is currently ranked second in Africa after Kenya and 16th best in the world after clinching gold in the 4x100m, bronze in the 4x400m, one fourth and fifth place finish, and three seventh place finishes for a total of 29 points at the World Relays.
The women’s 100m hurdles world record holder, Tobi Amusan, headlines the list of 29 athletes confirmed to represent Nigeria at the event.
Amusan has been instrumental to Nigeria’s recent success in the women’s 4x100m relay, securing gold at both the African Games and Commonwealth Games, the latter being rescinded due to a doping infraction by another member of the relay team.
The 26-year-old is joined by Nigeria’s 200m record holder Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, Justina Eyakpobeyan, Tima Godbless, Elo Blessing, and African Games double sprint medalist Olayinka Olajide.
A surprise omission from the men’s 4x100m team list is Favour Ashe, Nigeria’s fastest man this year with two sub-10 second finishes (9.96 seconds and 9.99 seconds)
The 21-year-old Auburn University undergraduate has been in excellent outdoor form, yet his name was left out of the final entry list released by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria.
No reason has been provided for his exclusion, though sources suggest the sprinter was not released by his university to be in the Bahamas.
With this development, Godson Oghenebrume and Udodi Onwuzurike will lead Nigeria’s charge in the men’s 4x100m, alongside Alaba Akintola, Karlington Anunagba, Consider Ekanem, Seye Ogunlewe, and Israel Okon Sunday.
Their goal is to secure a top-14 finish and earn a coveted lane at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, a feat Nigeria has not achieved since the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor