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Nigeria: Emedolu, Others Endorse National Relays
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Vanguard (Lagos)
29 April 2008
Posted to the web 29 April 2008
Ben Efe
Lagos
After one day of athletics thrill last Saturday at the Abuja National Stadium, former world class sprinter, Uchenna Emedolu and other athletes have given kudos to the National Sports Commission and the Athletics Federation of Nigeria for coming up with the National Relay Championship.
Emedolu who led his group of young sprinters to one day meet said that Nigeria stands to benefit from the initiative. He urged the organisers to sustain the championship.
"The relays are our traditional strong hold at international event. It is a marvelous idea to have a national relay invitational it will help our teams master their act of baton exchange," Emedolu a 200m specialist stated.
RELAY RACE - Eseni Mary of Uniben , Stella Osazua of Rivers State (middle) compete during the National Sports Commission/AFN Relay Series held in Abuja. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan.
Young athletes like Glory Bassey who spear headed the Olabisi Onabanjo University team's assault on the women 4x100m event, could not contain her joy.
"I wish we could be having more of these competitions. It is of no use training everyday and there is nowhere to express yourself.
"It will also be nice if they can include the sprints as it is done elsewhere. If it can be done, we would have a complete competition," said Bassey who won a double in the 100m and 200m at the West African University Games.
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And it seems her prayers have been answered as the NSC has vowed to make the competition a regular event. The next leg of the invitational relay will come up in Calabar on May 10, Makurdi will host the third leg on May 31 while another event will come at the Abuja National Stadium on June 14.
"We hope to present our full relay team at the other legs of the meet. They could not be present in the maiden edition because of the African Championships," said AFN vice president Usman Elias Gora.
He added that the idea behind the relay meets is to afford Nigeria quarterts the opportunity to have a seamless team work at international meets. This is because poor baton exchange and lack of understanding had caused Nigeria medals at the Olympics.
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