The highs and lows of 2010 athletics in Nigeria
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- Category: Sports
- Written by Orkula Shaagee
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As we enter the New Year today, the time has come to cast a reflective eye on 2010 and take stock of events that happened in the last twelve months, particularly as they affect the Nigerian athletics.
The Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, no doubt was surely the highlight of the year, with the country’s athletes recording positive and negative results at the global sports gathering.On the whole, going by events that characterised the outgoing year, the nation’s athletics has done well in the year.
Like others have observed, Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Technical Director Sunday Bada has declared that athletics in Nigeria has done well, but we are looking forward to doing better in the coming year.
This may have informed while the National Sports Commission has picked athletics as one of the events that Nigeria will be featuring in at the London 2012 Olympic Games. The others are taekwondo, football, female wrestling and female weightlifting.
But it was not entirely positives for Nigerian athletics as the sport was struck by a series of crises drug scandals that threatened to wipe out most of positive results recorded during the year under review.
In fact, some Nigerian athletes were found guilty of contravening international order on the use of drugs.
In a telephone interview with Trustsports, Bada said the federation would build on the success of the outgoing year to post resounding showing at the 2011 All Africa Games in Mozambique and the World Athletics Championship.
According to Bada, who captained the Nigerian team to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, a number of quality and promising young athletes were discovered in the outgoing year, giving hope of a brighter future in the sport.
“The outgoing year was encouraging to athletics in Nigeria, not only in terms of results but because of the turnaround in the sport and we hope to build on that to do better in the coming year.
“It was also interesting because of the talents that came up and we are hopeful that at the two major events coming up next year, the All Africa Games and the World Athletics Championship, Nigeria will produce better results. We are looking up the coming year with high hope”, Bada stated.
In the outgoing year, Athletics Federation of Nigeria organized seven national competitions and hosted the Obudu Ranch International Mountain Race, and also participated in seven international competitions, culminating with a brilliant showing at the Commonwealth Games in India.
At the IAAF World Indoor Championship in Doha, Qatar, Nigeria got to the semi final, while the country won 18 gold, 7 silver and 1 bronze medal at the Confederation of African Athletics, Region Two Youth Championship meant for the Youth Olympic Trials.
Nigeria also won 19 gold, 8 silver and 5 bronze medals at the Confederation of African Athletics, Region Two Youth Championships held in Makurdi; while the country’s representatives at the World Junior Championship held in Montreal, Canada returned home with 3 silver medals.
At the Africa Athletics Championship in Nairobi, Kenya, Nigerian athletes posted good results, wining 9 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze medals; while the country won 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal at the maiden edition of the Youth Olympics Games in Singapore. Nigeria also claimed 1 silver at the Africa Challenge, Obudu Mountain Race.
All these, Bada said were achieved through careful planning and execution of the AFN programmes, assuring that efforts will be intensified to raise the bar in 2011.
On the issue of banned drugs, particularly those who were found guilty of the offence at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, Bada said the Federation and the National Sports Commission are partnering to arrest the ugly incidence from rearing its head again.
Articles
The highs and lows of 2010 athletics in Nigeria
Category: Sports Written by Orkula Shaagee Hits: 1127
As we enter the New Year today, the time has come to cast a reflective eye on 2010 and take stock of events that happened in the last twelve months, particularly as they affect the Nigerian athletics.
The Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, no doubt was surely the highlight of the year, with the country’s athletes recording positive and negative results at the global sports gathering.On the whole, going by events that characterised the outgoing year, the nation’s athletics has done well in the year.
Like others have observed, Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Technical Director Sunday Bada has declared that athletics in Nigeria has done well, but we are looking forward to doing better in the coming year.
This may have informed while the National Sports Commission has picked athletics as one of the events that Nigeria will be featuring in at the London 2012 Olympic Games. The others are taekwondo, football, female wrestling and female weightlifting.
But it was not entirely positives for Nigerian athletics as the sport was struck by a series of crises drug scandals that threatened to wipe out most of positive results recorded during the year under review.
In fact, some Nigerian athletes were found guilty of contravening international order on the use of drugs.
In a telephone interview with Trustsports, Bada said the federation would build on the success of the outgoing year to post resounding showing at the 2011 All Africa Games in Mozambique and the World Athletics Championship.
According to Bada, who captained the Nigerian team to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, a number of quality and promising young athletes were discovered in the outgoing year, giving hope of a brighter future in the sport.
“The outgoing year was encouraging to athletics in Nigeria, not only in terms of results but because of the turnaround in the sport and we hope to build on that to do better in the coming year.
“It was also interesting because of the talents that came up and we are hopeful that at the two major events coming up next year, the All Africa Games and the World Athletics Championship, Nigeria will produce better results. We are looking up the coming year with high hope”, Bada stated.
In the outgoing year, Athletics Federation of Nigeria organized seven national competitions and hosted the Obudu Ranch International Mountain Race, and also participated in seven international competitions, culminating with a brilliant showing at the Commonwealth Games in India.
At the IAAF World Indoor Championship in Doha, Qatar, Nigeria got to the semi final, while the country won 18 gold, 7 silver and 1 bronze medal at the Confederation of African Athletics, Region Two Youth Championship meant for the Youth Olympic Trials.
Nigeria also won 19 gold, 8 silver and 5 bronze medals at the Confederation of African Athletics, Region Two Youth Championships held in Makurdi; while the country’s representatives at the World Junior Championship held in Montreal, Canada returned home with 3 silver medals.
At the Africa Athletics Championship in Nairobi, Kenya, Nigerian athletes posted good results, wining 9 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze medals; while the country won 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal at the maiden edition of the Youth Olympics Games in Singapore. Nigeria also claimed 1 silver at the Africa Challenge, Obudu Mountain Race.
All these, Bada said were achieved through careful planning and execution of the AFN programmes, assuring that efforts will be intensified to raise the bar in 2011.
On the issue of banned drugs, particularly those who were found guilty of the offence at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, Bada said the Federation and the National Sports Commission are partnering to arrest the ugly incidence from rearing its head again.