Solomon Ogba says outstanding athletes at the one-day Meet tagged “African Tour Asaba 2018″ will be rewarded for their efforts..
There were reports that the meet will be postponed but the 2018 African Athletics Championship LOC chairman, Ogba said. The African Tour will go on as planned on Wednesday July 18.
The meet will be used to test run the newly-built Stephen Keshi Stadium in preparation for the African Athletics Championship from August 1-5.
According to Ogba,”The July 18 meet has been strategically penciled down to effectively test run the new world-class facilities in place at the Stephen Keshi Stadium. The LOC are working towards perfecting all that is needed before the August 1-5 African Championship with the African tour meet.”
The one day-meet has been divided into three categories: Premium, Classic and National.
Events to be competed at the African Tour include: Men and Women’s 100m, 400m, 400m Hurdles, Long Jump, Shot put, 100m Hurdles, Women’s Hammer throw, Women’s 1500m, Men’s 5000m, Steeplechase, Men and Women’s 110m hurdles and the Men and Women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
The first three athletes in any Premium event will win $2000, $1000 and $750 respectively, the top three athletes in the Classic events will get $1000, $750 and $500 respectively while $300, $200 and $100 will be given to the first, second and third finishers in the National category.
2014 Commonwealth champion Ese Brume, NCAA record holder Divine Oduduru, National junior champion Joy Udo-Gabriel, quarter-milers Patience Okon-George, Yinka Ajayi, 2018 Commonwealth champion in 100m hurdles among others will be competing at the one-day meet.
Some countries that have confirmed their participation for the one-day meet include: Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana, Bahrain.The competition is expected to kick off at midday in Asaba.
