By Uzor Odigbo
President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Chief Tonobok Okowa has described as ‘coincident’ the clash in date of the 2024 AFN National Trials in Benin City and the Eld el Kabir celebration.
The AFN National Trials will be used to select the nation’s athletes for both the African Senior Athletics Championships in Douala, Cameroon and the Paris Olympics Games.
The AFN had earlier fixed its National Trials for June 26 to 28 to meet the Olympics qualification deadline in the midnight of June 29, only for the Confederations of African Athletics (CAA) to move the date for the African Senior Championships in Douala backward to June 21 to 26.
“The change in date of the African Senior Athletics Championships to June 21 to 26 affected our original plans for the AFN National Trials, and I hope our Muslim brothers and sisters will see reasons with us for this coincident clash in the date with the Eid el Kabir celebration, Okowa told AFN Media on Tuesday.
“We held several meetings and did a lot of calculations trying to push the date forward from clashing with the Eld el Kabir celebration, but things didn’t work. The major reason being that the NCAA season will end in the U.S. on June 8 and majority of our athletes will leave for their various bases within the United States the following day (June 9).
“They will rest for just one or two days, and depart U.S. on June 12 or June 13 to arrive in Nigeria on June 14 or 15.
“It is going to be a very tight schedule for the athletes, but there is nothing we can do about it because we are using the AFN National Trials to select Team Nigeria athletes for the African Senior Championships in Douala.
“As soon as the National Trials ends in Benin City on June 18, those who make the team will head to Lagos to catch their flight to Cameroon.
“As I said earlier, this clash in date with the Eld el Kabir celebration is not delibrate but a coincident. We have explained the situation to the athletes, particularly our beloved Muslim brothers and sisters and they see reasons with us,” Okowa stated.