The first All-Comers Athletics Competition ended in Lagos on Wednesday, May 4, 2016, with the President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria AFN, Solomon Ogba, insisting that no lazy athlete would represent the country at the Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Ogba, who made the declaration after accessing athletes’ performance during the one-day meet, reasoned that although, some of the athletes qualified for the games based on their performance last year, they should not rest, until they make it through the national trials.
Nobody should count himself in until the end of the national trials. I’m saying this because most athletes may think they are already in Rio Olympics list. For us, qualification would be assured for any athlete after passing through our national trials. The lazy ones may not have a chance”.
In his rating of the 2016 season’s competition, Ogba noted that some of athletes are ready for the season while other are still pretending. He however, believed that with the current enthusiasm shown in this first competition, the athletes will improve in subsequent meet.
Over 400 athletes across the country participated in the competition which would also determined selection for subsequent meet.
Thirteen events featured in the meet, namely, 100m, 200m, 400m, shot put, javelin and hammer, among others.
One of the star athletes and former Junior champion Divine Oduduru who won the 100m (10.36secs) and 200m event assured that the process of cutting down his running time has started and hopes to run 10.00secs before the Olympics.