National 3,000m record holder, Ronke Akanbi; reigning Nigeria 100m U20 record holder, Tima Godbless and 53 others have been invited to camp for the final leg of preparations for the Africa U18 and U20 Championships scheduled to hold later this month in Ndola, Zambia.
In a statement obtained by www.aclsports.com from the Technical Director of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Samuel Onikeku, camp will open on Tuesday April 11, 2023 at the High Performance Centre in Abuja.
Onikeku revealed that the majority of the athletes were picked after the AFN U18 and U20 trials held at the Ahmadu Bello stadium in Kaduna last March.
The list of invited athletes include; Rejoice Sule, Blessing Okpah, Funmilayo Aladeloye, Immaculate Daniel, Rosemary Etim and Grace Sule.
Others are Ayomide Joseph, Kudoro Taiwo, Ruqqayah Mustapha, Blessing Akintoye, Usenbor Osaretin Joy, Ada Bright and Grace Oshiokpu.
For the U20 men, Musa Nurain, Ajayi Ismail, Adebisi Musbau, Unorji Kingsley, Toviho Olabode, Ajayi Kehinde, Ajayi Oluwabamidele, Badejo Emmanuel, Joshua Caleb, Okonye Precious, Charles Edward, Orekevwie Oghenetega Joel and Habibu Salisu made the cut.
Faith Okwose will lead the charge for medals in the sprint for the U18 girls. The 17 year old won two silver medals in the 100 and 200m events behind Godbless at the National Sports Festival last December in Asaba, Delta state.
Others are Yakpobeyan Tiana, Oyebode Stella Oluwaremilekun, Nwachukwu Chioma, Onyah Onyinye, Saibu Olayinka, Prestina Ochonogor, Ewa Peace, Irivi Precious, Djoma Praise, Ofuoku Nyerhovwo, Ovedje Gift and Kparika Victoria.
The U18 boys will have Israel Okon, Daje Lucky, John Caleb, Samuel Ogazi, Olanrewaju Erioluwa, Francis James Musa, Pam Paul, Fiaku Goodluck, Aninze Ifeanyi, Isaac Chukwuwike, Sadiq Zakariyya, Dickson Christain, Badmus Gafar Atandaand Emmanuel.
Nigeria finished third (13 gold, six silver and 13 bronze medals) behind South Africa and Kenya in the last edition of the championships held at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
