President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Solomon Ogba, has promised that the proposed Asaba 2018 African Senior Athletics Championships billed for Asaba, will produce more talents for the country.
Ogba re-affirmed that the event will help Nigeria to discover and nurture future world champions in athletics just like the 2013 African Junior Athletics Championships in Warri established athletes like Ese Brume and Divine Oduduru respectively.
Ogba who led a delegation of Confederation of Africa Athletics which included its President, Hammed Kalkaba, to meet the Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa on Monday said part of the buildup activities to the championships will include junior competitions across the nook and crannies of Nigeria to discover budding talents that will participate in invitational relays and other events.
Said Ogba: “Before the African Youth Championships in Warri, I assured Nigerians that the championships will lead to discovery of new stars and it came to pass with discovery of Brume who won three medals at the championships, set a new African junior record in long jump, won the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, represented Nigeria at the 2016 Olympic Games where she placed fifth in the long jump final with a leap of 6.81m, she has a personal best of 6.83m in the event.”
Ogba also recalled that Oduduru who won the sprint double at Warri 2013 and a bronze medal, went on to win the African Junior Championships five times, and was a silver medalist at the 2014 World Junior and also silver medalist at the 2015 All-Africa Games in Brazzaville.
Ogba who alongside the Chairman of Delta Sports Commission Tony Okowa and Kalkaba inspected the Asaba City Stadium venue of championships reechoed the promise of Okowa that the stadium will be completed before December 2017.
“ I can also assure that championships will be driven by the private sector , we are working with Nilayo Sports Management Limited, an expert in the area to ensure that the championships is funded by the private sector” said Ogba.
