CAA Junior Champs: We are in Zambia for exposure, not medals, says AFN TD
By Uzor Odigbo
Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) technical director, Samuel Onikeku said junior Athletes came for the competition in Zambia to garner necessary exposure, describing the outing of the Nigerian team to the Confederation of African Athletics in Ndola, as a rewarding experience.
He further emphasized that the Athletes were in the competition for exposure but had to perform beyond expectations despite difficulties they experienced while coming to Zambia.
“Majority of them are travelling for the first time. All those that have competed have won medals and the middle and long distance athletes we brought have gathered enough exposure,” Onikeku said.
He added that winning medals was not the priority of the federation but exposing the junior athletes to many competitions since that is where the future lies.
“This is a youth competition is not all about winning but giving them the necessary exposure for the future. It’s purely developmental at this stage. Winning medals is just an additional bonus.”
Meanwhile, the juniors AthIetes have won 7 gold medals and are expecting more as the Championships draws to a close and according to Onikeku, the athletes despite all the difficulties they went through going to Zambia have put up an excellent performance.
In some of the events concluded Tuesday, Faith Okwose running in the U-18 category clinched the 200m gold to win a sprint double. She had won the 100m with 11.53seconds and in the 200m ran a personal best of 23.31 seconds.
Justina Eyakpobeyan picked the bronze with 23.60 secs.