April 23, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s contingent to the 2023 African U-18 and U-20 Athletics Championships is set to depart for Ndola, Zambia, on April 26.
The team will comprise of 45 athletes and five officials, who will represent Nigeria in the competition. President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Tony Okowa, revealed that the group of 50 people is expected to arrive before the opening ceremony on April 28.
The AFN has selected 21 male athletes and 19 female athletes to represent the country in the U-20 and U-18 categories respectively. However, it was learned that eight athletes may not make the trip due to delays in obtaining their international passports. An official disclosed that if the athletes failed to get their passports ready before the midnight deadline, they will be excluded from the competition.
At the 2019 edition, Nigeria placed third behind South Africa and Kenya. The Technical Director of AFN, Samuel Onikeku, expressed optimism that Nigeria could win more medals in field events than in previous outings. The AFN held national trials where 40 athletes were selected from a pool of 58 to participate in the competition.
To familiarise the athletes with the facilities they might encounter in Ndola, Team Nigeria was moved from Abuja to the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba.
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.
