Heartbreak for Nigeria as athletes have been denied visas by the Chinese embassy to compete at the World Relays.
Nigeria will not compete at the World Athletics Relays after the athletes were denied visas by the Chinese Embassy.
The World Relays is a major championship scheduled to take place this weekend, in Ghangzhou from May 10-11, and it brings together the world’s best relay teams competing for slots to automatically qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo this summer.
summer.
A strong list of Nigerian Athletes was announced to don the country’s colours in the Chinese city, with veteran sprinters Tobi Amusan and Chidi Okezie leading the list.
According to the list released by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), 17 athletes were to represent the country in four events: Men’s 4x100m relay, Women’s 4x100m relay, Mixed 4x100m relay, and Mixed 4x400m relay.
In the women’s 4x100m relay, World Record holder Amusan tops the list of sprinters alongside Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, Success Umukoro, Tiana Eyakpobeyan, and Jennifer Chukwuka.
The men’s category has Favour Ashe, Usheoritse Itsekiri, Alaba Akintola, Udodi Onwuzurike, Fola Olaoye, and Karlington Anunagba.
Meanwhile, the mixed 4x100m has Ashe, Akintola, Onwuzurike, Ofili, Chukwuma, and Umukoro, while the mixed 4x400m comprises Patience Okon George, Omolara Ogunmakinju, Chidi Okezie, Samson Nathaniel, and Ifeanyi Ojeli.
Last year, Nigeria’s relay teams of women’s 4x100m, mixed 4x400m, and men’s 4x400m qualified for the Paris Olympic Games after competing at the World Relays in the Bahamas.
Sadly, there’ll be no qualification this time as both the US and home-based athletes will not make the trip to China as they’ve all been denied visas.