Sports
Amusan To Miss World Indoor Games
World record hurdler, Tobi Amusan, will miss this weekend’s World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland after she was excluded from Nigeria’s final entry, Tidesports source gathered.
Our correspondent learnt that Amusan passed on the opportunity to feature at the championship to intensify her preparation for the forthcoming African Games in Ghana, which holds from March 8 to 23.
“Amusan is a professional athlete and at this level, their managers and coaches choose the meets they take part in to avoid injuries and burnouts before major championships,” a close source to Amusan to told Tidesports source.
“But she will be back for the African Games; that I can assure you, barring any injuries, which we don’t pray for.
Amusan had raised expectations of becoming the third Nigerian after Ese Brume and Glory Alozie to win at the World Athletics’ flagship events, indoor and outdoor after setting two African indoor records within days in the 60m hurdles this season.
She also fueled hopes of having a Nigerian female indoor champion, after the late Sunday Bada and Olusoji Fasuba, who won the 400m and 60m titles in 1997 and 2008 respectively.
In Amusan’s absence, Nigeria’s medal hopes now le on Brume, who will be seeking to win gold after becoming the first Nigerian long jumper to win medals at the world indoor and outdoor championships.
The long jumper won bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar and silver at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, USA. She also won silver at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
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.