Athletics Federation says stakes are high ahead of the African Games in Ghana

As the date for the 13th African Games scheduled to be held in three Ghanaian cities draws closer, a good number of members of Team Nigeria Athletics are shaping up nicely and returning excellent timing and, for some, their personal best.

Nigeria triple jump record holder Ruth Usoro and sprinter Success Umukoro proved some spark with their stellar performances. Usoro claimed the triple jump title with a leap of 13.89 m. Umukoro ran a new 23.49 lifetime best to place sixth in the 200 m event.

Usoro’s 13.89 m mark is the second longest in the world so far this indoor season, bettered only by Neja Filipic’s 13.90 m mark achieved on January 14 at the Olimpijski center in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. Ella Onojuvwevwo also ran a new 23.91 lifetime best in the half lap and led her school, Louisiana State University, to win the 4x400m event.

Uko Nse, a former World U20 400m champion, took the baton last for Baylor University to place 7th (3:41.35). Meanwhile, Godson Brume commenced his season on a weak note with a 21.40-second feat to place 4th in the second heat of the 200-meter event and 11th overall on Saturday in Texas Tech’s Corky Classic.

The Delta State, born 20 years old, was expected to continue with the excitement created by compatriot Temitope Adeshina’s record-setting 1.96-meter clearance on the opening day of the event but finished woefully short of expectations. This impressive form recorded by Nigerian athletes in the USA and other parts of the world has not gone unnoticed by the governing body of athletics in Nigeria (AFN).

It has moved an excited Athletics Federation of Nigeria to congratulate all the athletes currently competing in the US and other parts of the world. Reacting to high jumper Temitope Adeshina’s feat (1.96 m) recently, the AFN President, High Chief Tonobok Okowa, assured athletes of the federation’s unalloyed encouragement and support, saying it’s a sign of good things to come.