Sports
Commonwealth Games: AFN Set To Avert Olympics Shame
President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Tonebok Okowa, has revealed that the federation is working assiduously to ensure that all its major athletes complete their out-of-competition doping tests ahead of the various international competitions listed for the year including the Commonwealth Games.
Okowa stated that the federation would be looking to avoid the embarrassment during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, where a total of 10 Nigerian athletes were barred from participating in various athletics events, after failing to meet the minimum testing requirements in the months leading up to the Olympics.
According to “Rule 15,” of the Athletics Integrity Unit, athletes are to carry out at least three no-notice out-of-competition tests (urine and blood) conducted no less than three weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to a major event.
With the Commonwealth Games and several other competitions just around the corner, Okowa revealed that they were working to ensure that all athletes completed the testing to avoid having them disqualified at championships.
“Right now we are going to concentrate on and make sure that all our athletes, especially the major ones, have complied with all their out-of-competition doing tests,” Okowa said.
“We remember what happened at the Olympics where some of our athletes went and were not allowed to compete because some of them did not complete their out-of-competition tests.
“It is sometimes difficult to hold on to these athletes to comply but at the end of the day when we experience the trouble, the entire country holds the AFN.
“All we are trying to do is to make sure we put the athletes under pressure to comply so that there will be no mishap in the future.
“Right now Nigeria is in category A, which is not so good for us, but we are fighting to get out of that category.”
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.