BEVERLY HILLS, May 01, (THEWILL) – When the 2021 World Athletics Relays, the international biennial track and field sporting event held by World Athletics, where teams from around the world compete in relay races, kicks off today, Saturday, May 1, in Chorzow, Poland, Nigerian athletes, who have striven to be in shape and sacrificed to prepare for a good showing, will be absent from the tracks.
That will be the unfortunate circumstance of them being Nigerian rather than being unprepared, because for all their stringent preparations coupled with the pleasures they could have denied themselves for the sake of the relays, they were let down by the tardiness of their own government, which has laid waste all their dreams.
THEWILL learnt that all 24 athletes listed for the World Relays by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) could not make the trip after their visa applications were refused by the Polish embassy in Nigeria, as the embassy claimed the AFN submitted its visa applications later than was required.
The worst part of the absence of Team Nigeria from the races in Poland is that the event was supposed to qualify these athletes for the relay events at the Tokyo Olympics. Now, there will not be any Nigerian to compete in those events when the possibility to have at least some of the 24, who were ready to challenge for honours, represent Nigeria at the Relays.
Meanwhile, unlike Nigeria, the world and Olympics Champions, the United States of America opted not to participate. This leaves the medal podium for Great Britain’s women such as Zoey Clark, Emily Diamond, and Laviai Nielsen on parade, part of the 4x400m quartet that finished fourth in the World Championships in Doha, Qatar in 2019.
Britain’s men’s team is led by Dwayne Cowan and Rabah Yousif Bkheit, who were part of the team that won bronze at London 2017, will be contenders for the medals on offer at Chorzow too.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
