By Uzor Odigbo
Delta State born sprinter Favour Ofili ran a new personal best of 11.06 to secure her first National Championships 100m title Sunday night at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in Benin City, Edo state.
She defeated African Games silver medalist, Olayinka Olajide who came 2nd in 11.37 secs and Justina Eyakpobeyan, the Commonwealth Youth Games silver medal winner who came in third in 11.47s.
The 21 year old Ofili’s time also secured her a place in the 100m event after Rosemary Chukwuma and Tima Godbless. She has now won two individual titles at the Championships following her 200m win in 2019 in Kaduna.
Ofili has now qualified to represent Nigeria in the 100m and 200m event and has become the second Nigerian woman after Godbless to qualify for both sprint events.
Former AthIete and long jumper Chinedu Odozor-Onikeku described the race as demanding having extracted the best performance from Ofili who had shun like stars at previous Competitions abroad.
In the men’s version, Kanyinsola Ajayi also emerged as first time Nigeria 100m title winner after speeding past(10.14) Alaba Akintola (10.16s) and defending champion, Usheoritse Itsekiri (10.22s.).
Ajayi is however unable to secure his passage to the Olympics at the Championships as he needs to run 10.00 seconds to do so.
In the men’s Shot Put, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi successfully defended his title with a 21.37m effort. It is his fourth straight title win and five overall after winning on his debut in the competition in Sapele in 2016.
His effort was commended by the AFN president who described him as Nigeria’s dependable AthIete.
