Chairman of the organising committee for the 2022 Nigerian Athletics Championship, Chief Solomon Ogba says the event will be staged to match the rising profile of track and field in Nigeria.
A number of Nigerian athletes have attained world-class status between last year and now and Ogba is confident the glory days are back for the sport.
“We want to organise a championship befitting our rising profile. I cannot remember the last time we produced three women who have gone inside 11 seconds in the 100m in one year or produce athletes that will break records as old as the athletes themselves,” said Ogba, a two-time president of the AFN.
Favour Ofili (10.93), Rosemary Chukwuma (10.99) and Grace Nwokocha (10.97) have all ran sub-11 seconds this year while in the men’s version, as many as five, Udodi Onwuzurike (10.03), Raymond Ekevwo (10.04), Favour Ashe (10.04), Alaba Akintola (10.04) and Ushoritse Itshekiri (10.09) have gone under 10.10 seconds.