Sports minister leads team to Douala
After almost 12 years of playing the second fiddle to sprinters and hurdlers, Nigerian long jumpers are beginning to shake things up with three athletes landing 8.00m at the National Championships in Benin City on Monday night.
The contest at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium Benin City was fierce, as Charles Godfred, Goodness Iredia and Emma Njoku battled to achieve the Olympics qualifying standard of 8.27m.
Though they didn’t meet the target, their performance left everyone watching in awe and reminiscing on the country’s great past. Godfred, a former junior athlete at African Championships in Ndola, Zambia, leapt 8.16m, while Iredia and Njoku tied at 8.00m, all personal bests for the jumpers.
Speaking on the development, Chairman Edo State Sports Commission, a national record holder at 8.21m, Yusuf Alli said he was excited.
“This is the first time in almost 15 years we are having any Nigerian jumper making an eight-metre jump. Not one but three, and it was achieved in Benin City.
“The last time we had a jumper doing 8m was Stanley Gbagbeke, and that was many years ago in Calabar. Things are beginning to look like back in the 1980s, where we had four jumpers doing eight metres. If these boys can focus on training, Godfred can achieve 8.2m in the next few years.
“We also have athletes coming up in the hurdles and throws. Now is time we really need to manage our track and field so well considering the number of talents we see coming up.”
Meanwhile, Sports Minister, Senator John Owan Enoh, has promised to lead Nigerian athletes to Douala, Cameroon for the Senior Confederation of Africa Athletics (CAA) Championships, which will hold from June 21 to 26.
The minister spoke in Benin City while addressing athletes and officials at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium Monday night. He assured the athletes that as the sports minister, he owed a duty to lead from the front and ensure their progress.
Enoh praised the athletes and the AFN for doing well at the Africa Games and CAA Zone ll Championships in Ghana, where they placed first over all, and pledged that their journey to Douala would be stress free.
“I am going to lead you to Cameroon. You have done well… AFN board has also done well. I want to be part of your progress in Cameroon, I will address you again where you can ask questions about your concerns.”
Before the minister left the arena, he informed journalists that 99 per cent of the athletes had received their allowances for the last African Games in Ghana, adding the one per cent left may have not submitted their account details.
Also speaking on the trip to Cameroon, AFN President, Tonobok Okowa, revealed that the team to Douala might go by air, instead of the sea cruise earlier announced to the athletes on Monday night.
“We are still meeting and before tomorrow, we will know exactly how we are going. But it is most likely we go by air for the athletes to be in their best elements,” Okowa stated.
