The African Senior Athletes Championship, AAC has come to an end with Nigeria successfully coming 3rd on the final medals table. Nigeria finished with a total of 11 medals of which 5 are gold. Silver and bronze medals are 3 each.
Athletes Federation of Nigeria’s president, Chief Tonobok Okowa has praised the athletes who represented the nation in the just concluded Africa Athletics Championship AAC, where Nigeria came behind Kenya and South Africa on the medals table.
Speaking at the aftermath of the competition, Okowa expressed delight at the level of performance of the team Nigeria stating that it would have been a different thing if Nigeria was fully represented. “I am satisfied with the five gold medals because of the set of athletes we brought here. You know that a lot of our athletes from the United States did not show up because of some competitions at hand especially the national trials coming soon.
Considering Nigeria as a superpower when it comes to Athletes in Africa, one would have expected the country to do better on a continental level like this in hopes of producing results is anything to go by” I know we could have done better but considering the set of Athletes we brought here, we still have five gold medals? Though there is a lot to do in preparation for the Common Wealth Games and the World Championship. We are going back to the drawing board.
Could the presence of absentees have changed the medal standings of Nigeria at the end of the Championship? Okowa could have asked himself in the middle of the interview ” The likes of Ofili and others, if they had been here, it would have been a different ball game. We would have got way more than five gold medals but I thank God for that.
The next gathering of Nigeria’s Athletes will be at the national trials. According to the Athletics boss, we should expect a full house as everyone who missed out on the AAC is expected to participate.
