The 7th edition of the Daniel Olukoya Youth and Junior Championships earlier billed to hold on Saturday, April 8, 2017 has now been moved forward to Monday April 10.
According to Olukayode Thomas, head of Media and Communication, Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), the High-Performance Center, Port Harcourt remains the venue for the championships.
Thomas explained that the change in date was necessitated because of the ongoing qualifiers for the Nigeria University Games, NUGA taking place at the University of Port Harcourt.
“Yes, there is a slight change, we had to move the event to Monday due to the pre-NUGA activities that will drag into the weekend,” he stated.
With the new development, athletes from participating states and clubs are now expected to arrive on Sunday, April 9 for screening at the competition venue.
The AFN while reiterating on its’ zero tolerance for age cheats insist that only athletes that pass the screening exercise will be allowed to take part in this year’s championships.
Expectations are high ahead of Monday’s Meet in Port Harcourt as this edition of the D.K Olukoya Athletics Championships will be used to select athletes that will represent Nigeria at the Africa Junior Championships that will be holding in Algeria 29 June to July 2nd 2017.
This year’s D.k Olukoya Championships is also expected to aid AFN in their selection of athletes to represent the country at the World Youth Championships and Commonwealth Youth Games taking place respectively in Kenya and the Bahamas later this year.
Raymond Ekevwo was among the shining stars of the 2016 edition of the competition at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.
Ekevwo won the men’s 100m in a time of 10.36seconds
