By Gracious Akujobi The President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Solomon Ogba over the weekend said that AFN and the National Sports Commission (NSC ) are working hard to ensure a glorious outing at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Speaking after the Abuja Golden League held at the Abuja National Stadium on Saturday, Ogba said with the federation’s programmes for the season are going according to plans.
He said track and field will not only make podium appearances in Glasgow, but better what they did in Delhi 2010 where Ajoke Odumosu and Tosin Oke won gold medals in Women’s 400m Hurdles and Men’s triple jump.
“Whatever you may achieve in sports, if you don’t appear on the podium, it makes no meaning to Nigerians. At the London 2012 Olympics, we were in 11 semi-finals and six finals, but Nigerians believed we didn’t do well at all, but I can tell you that it is no small feat to be in 11 semi-finals and six finals; some sports did not even qualify to be in London,’’ he said.
Ogba revealed that with podium appearance in mind, the federation started working towards succeeding in Glasgow early with the conditioning camp for top athletes in Abuja.
The AFN President said further, “We opened our season for home based athletes with the over distance event in Ijebu-Ode. To keep them in shape for the National Trials in Calabar in June, they will compete in the five legs of the Golden League meets.
“The final is slated for Benin. Apart from the prize money the athletes will win at each leg of the league, there is a jackpot of two million naira. Then, there is the Warri Relay and Grand Prix before the All Nigeria Championships”.
For the elite athletes and those based in the United States and Europe Ogba said, “We started giving the elite athletes training grants since last year; some of them competed at the World Indoor where they made some finals and set a new African record in the 4x400m.
“Eighteen of our elite athletes from home will join their counterparts overseas this weekend. They are to compete in the Mt.Sac and other meets across America before heading to the Bahamas where they will compete in the inaugural IAAF World Relays.’’
The President of AFN further revealed that after the All Nigeria in Calabar, “we will select athletes that will represent us at the Commonwealth Games, we shall also look for a suitable camp in Europe for final preparation, we urge Nigerians to get behind us and support us with their prayers’’.
