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Nigeria: Athletes Burn Abuja Stadium Tracks Today
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Daily Trust (Abuja)
1 July 2008
Posted to the web 1 July 2008
Smaila Umaru Lere & Orkula Shaagee
The best of Nigerian track and field athletes will be on parade today as the 2008 edition of the NNPC/EXXONMobil trials begins at the main bowl of the Abuja National Stadium.
No doubt, those who throng the Abuja National Stadium will enjoy them-selves as athletes in the sprints (long and short distances), long and high jump, javelin, short put and a host of other field and track events will be on hand to showcase their talents as they strive to emerge top and win laurels at the annual sports showpiece.
What will make this year's event even more grueling and explosive is the fact that the trial is being used as a selection event for Nigeria's representatives to the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games.
As the events kick off today, one is expected to witness some records set and old ones broken by emerging stars who will be put for upsets against the elite athletes.
Athletics Federation of Nigeria Technical Director, Sunday Bada said it all when he declared that new stars are expected to emerge in this year's NNPC/EXXONMobil trials.
Bada, a former 100 metres sensation and nine years national record holder in the event, said at a pre-event press briefing in Abuja that this year's trails would be exciting.
Last week, one of them gave a hint of what to expect at the Olympics Games trials, as he dusted the more exposed and experienced sprinters to the first position in the 100 metres final race in the third edition of the Abuja Super Grand Prix.
Most spectators at the venue of the event watched in disbelief as Adetoyi Durotoye dusted World Indoor Athletics Champion-ship 60 metres current title holder, Olusoji Fasuba to the first position in the final of the 100 metres at the 2008 edition of the Abuja Grand Prix.
Durotoye returned 10.12 seconds to beat Fasuba to the second position. Fasuba returned 10.18 seconds to finish second, while Uche-nna Emedolu finished third with 10.22 seconds.
But in a chat with reporters after the race, Fasuba said he was not disturbed by the results of the race, saying he is concentrating his focus on training for the Beijing Olympic Games, and is sure of a better outing at the summer games.
He said the outcome of the Abuja Grand Prix should not pose concern to Nigerians over what he would put up in Beijing, as his target is win the Olympic trials and go ahead to win medal at the Beijing Games.
In his comment, Durotoye said he was happy for the victory and would work hard to improve on his performance at the Mobil trials to be able to pick a ticket to represent the country at the Beijing Olympic Games next August.
The women's race will also be interesting and entertaining.
Francisca Idoko, a finalist at the world indoor champion-ships in Spain, will also be confronting Damola Osa-yomi.
The women's field pro-mises to be star-studded especially with the presence of former champions, Endur-ance Ojokolo and Gloria Kemasuode.
The Americans and Jamaicans set the pace last weekend during their respec-tive trials.
Although not to be counted as a world record, Tyson Gay's 9.65 seconds wind-aided time in the 100 metres race, will make the race in Beijing an interesting one. Gay had run 9.77 seconds in the semi-finals.
And in Jamaica, world record holder Usain Bolt (9.72 secs) clocked 9.85 secs to beat former recorder holder Asafa Powell, who returned 9.97, to second place.
Gay's compatriots Walter Dix, Darvis Patton and Travis Padgett finished 9.80, 9.84 and 9.85 seconds respecti-vely.
Bada said Nigerian athletes were rearing to go. He is optimistic that the Nigerian sprinters would also return good times like their American and Jamaican counterparts.
"The race will be interesting especially after last week's Grand Prix, where a young and relatively unknown Durotoye upset the top athletes.
"We expect an explosive race," Bada added. "All our top athletes are in town from the United States," he said.
The female race will be equally exciting, according to the former quarter-miler.
Osayomi, Idoko, Halimat Ismaila, Ojokolo and Kemas-uode will also explode from the starting block.
The field events will also be interesting especially the jumps - long, triple and high jumps.
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This will be the exclusive reserve of the females as most of the girls are based in the U.S. and are better placed to meet the Olympic qualifying standard than the men, who have been unimpressive, in the jumps.
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| Copyright © 2008 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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