Olamide George, the Acting President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), has assured that Team Nigeria were on course in seeking qualification for the relay races of the Tokyo Olympics.
George, who is in Texas in the U.S. with the team, said on Friday that the team would qualify for not just the mixed relay event.
“We will also qualify for the men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m events,” he said.
George expressed his delight with the team following their performance at the PVAMU meet in Texas.
“We are happy. But I also believe we can do much better in our next race.
“We now know what we need to do to secure one of the four available slots on offer,” he said.
Nigeria’s 4x400m mixed relay team got off to a good start at the PVAMU meet on Wednesday, running a new three minutes 18.53 seconds Nigerian record to win the event.
The win has now put Team Nigeria within five places of sealing a spot in the event at the Tokyo Olympics.
The quartet of Imaobong Nse, Patience Okon-George, Nathaniel Samson and Sikiru Adeyemi made history as the first quartet to dorn the country’s colours in the event.
The team, according to the latest World Athletics ranking, are now 21st.
They are behind Germany, who presently occupy the 16th qualifying spot, Kenya, France, Czech Republic and Colombia respectively.
But Team Nigeria will need to better the time ran by Germany (3:16.85) to become one of the 16 finalists for the event in Tokyo.(NAN)
