Thirty-seven athletes have been selected by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) to represent the country at the 2018 Commonwealth Games holding in April at Gold Coast in Australia. Sunday Adeleye, the AFN Technical Director, said the athletes are made up of 10 foreign-based and 27 home-based athletes.
According to the AFN board member, the athletes were carefully selected to ensure Nigeria will make a mark and not just participate at the Games.
No fewer than 915 athletes had participated in the AFN Commonwealth Games Trials held in Abuja from Feb. 14 to Feb. 16. During the trials, which was the final phase of selection of athletes for the Games, national records were broken in the womens hammer throw and womens 20km walk race.
The home-based athletes on the list include Queen Obisesan and Fadekemi Olude who broke the national records in womens hammer throw and womens 20km walk race respectively. Also, Blessing Ibraheem, Patience George-Okon and Rosemary Chukwuma are among the other home-based women.
Their male counterparts include Adegoke Enoch, Henry Okorie, Isah Salihu, Orukpe Eraiyokan and Bamidele Emmanuel, among others. The foreign-based women are Blessing Okagbare, Jenifer Madu, Regina George, Kelechi Nwanagha, Amusan Tobiloba and Doreen Amata. Their male counterparts are Edward Michael, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Stephen Mozia and Chidi Okezie.
The teams technical officials include Adeleye, Endurance Ojokolo, Ishola Oladipupo and Lekan Soetan. The team is expected to arrive in Australia in the first week of March. Team Nigeria will participate in nine athletics events at the Games, including 100m, 200m, 400m, discus throw, high jump and decathlon.
Source: NAN