In an attempt to break into the national track and field event scene, student athletes from various universities in Nigeria are on the track to prove their mettle in this year’s annual Nigerian athletics event.
Popoola Ifedayo, a Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) Student from the Faculty of Environmental Technology who is a 100m,200m, and 4X100m (Relay) runner is full of hope and expectation at the All Comers event. He said, “I hope to achieve a personal best tomorrow at two events – 100 m and 200m. I hope I improve so well that I can represent the country at an international event in the future.”
Nelson Oluwatosin, a second year FUTA student from the department of Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics is a 200m and 400m runner (Junior Category). He said, “My expectation is to run a personal best tomorrow and if possible, run the world junior standard for 400m, which is 47.3secs
Egbechuliem Raphael, popularly known as DINO from the DeVictors Athletics Club, Ogun State and third year student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, department of Agricultural Engineering aims to break his personal best record. He said, “I want to achieve a New Personal best in the 200m and 400m event. My current personal best for the for the 200m is 21.11secs while the 400m is 47.3secs.
Oluwatobiloba Bajela, Glitzsport reporter met with Himah Charles, the athlete representative on the board of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN)) and Acting President of the Track and Field Union of Nigeria (TAFAUN). He commented on the importance of the event and why it was the first track and field event of the year. He said, “The federation has not gotten funds from anywhere, the AFN President, Honourable Olamide George took this upon himself to organise something because the National Sports Festival is close. It is important that we have great performances at the National Sports Festival because the best athletes from the festival will be selected to represent Nigeria at the Olympic Games.”
He added, “I saw a very young girl testing her run up yesterday, I was really surprised. Nigeria has numerous talents and I can assure you a lot of great performances will be shown at this event.”