The Nigerian contingent to the 2019 IAAF World Relays in Yokohama, Japan may miss the tournament as they have been denied visas by the Japanese Embassy.
The Nigerian team was originally scheduled to depart on Wednesday with 11 athletes, one coach and three AFN officials for the competition which is from May 11-12.
The Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Sunday Adeleye claimed that the Japanese Embassy was frustrating their efforts in making the trip to Yokohama.
“We submitted our applications for visas last week, and we met their requirements. We were supposed to pick up our visas but the embassy denied us the document. This is frustrating to us.
“If we fail to make it to Yokohama, then our athletes won’t be able to secure their lane ahead the World Athletics Championships coming up in Doha. We have prepared 11 home-based athletes for this trip to Japan,” he concluded.
The IAAF World Relays is an international biennial track and field sporting event where teams from around the world compete in relay race.
