Excitement as Nigeria’s 40-athlete contingent arrives Douala

The harsh economy notwithstanding, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) was able to assemble a strong contingent for the 2024 African Senior Athletics Championships, which begins today in Douala, Cameroon.

The Nigerian team, made up of 40 athletes and 12 officials, left Lagos for Cotonou, Benin Republic, where they boarded a Camar Airline flight to Douala yesterday morning.

The team is laced with top foreign-based athletes, including world record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan, Olympics medallist in the long jump, Ese Brume, current national title holder in the 100m, Favour Ofili, thrower, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, sprinters Godson Brume, Adegoke Alaba, Rosemary Chukwuma and Justina Eyakpobeya, among others.

The arrival of the Nigerian team at the Douala International airport yesterday caused jubilation among the locals, with some of them saying: “Now we know that Cameroon is hosting a major sporting event.”

One of the airport workers, who gave his name simply as Roberto, said: “We have been receiving small, small contingent from other countries since yesterday (Wednesday). I am excited with this large crowd coming from Nigeria, which shows how serious your country takes athletics in our continent.”

Vice president of the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC), Solomon Ogba, who is part of the contingent to Douala, said he was optimistic the athletes would make the country proud in the championships.

Meanwhile, newly crowned 100m queen, Ofili Favour, has declared that she was still hungry for more after she triumphantly blazed to 11.06s to grab her maiden women’s 100m title at the recently concluded Nigerian Olympics trials in Benin City.

The performance gave Ofili an automatic ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

She told The Guardian at the team’s camp yesterday, that she would give the African Senior Championships in Douala the best approach it deserves, just as she urged Nigerians to continue praying for her success to enable her go all out in the Paris Olympics to make the nation proud.

She said: “I feel great and I am still hungry for more. The secret of my achievements this season is being patient. I didn’t love 400m. My coach observed it and did what a coach ought to do. My major focus is to stay healthy. Everyone should pray for me to be healthy because if I am healthy, you know what I can do.”