Liberian team arrives
A six-man Athletics Liberian delegation, comprising four athletes and two coaches, have arrived in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria to participate in the African Senior Athletics championship.
US-based Liberian athletes Akeem Sirleaf, Wellington Zaza and Coach Sayon Cooper, are said to arrive in Abasa from the US; whereas local athletes, Otricia Borkuah, Kadmiel Enders and coach Bill Sheriff departed the country already and will subsequently arrive there for the competition.
Akeem will participate in the 200m male sprint, while Wellington will do 110 meters hurdle male, Octricia and kedmiel will participate in the female and male high jump respectively.
The 21st African Senior Athletics Championships is scheduled to be held from Wednesday-Sunday, August 1 -5, 2018.
At present, 25 countries have already registered and current breakdown indicates 473 male athletes have already been listed for the championships, while 400 female athletes have also registered for track and field events at the Stephen Keshi stadium in Asaba, Delta state.
Accordingly, about 205 accompanying officials and the athletes will be set for the Africa’s flagship athletics competition.
South Africa is the defending champion, having won the last two editions hosted in Marrakech, Morocco and Durban, South Africa.
The South Africans are already talking tough-as they seek to complete a hat trick of titles in Asaba even though others countries, such as Nigeria, Kenya, and Liberia are set for the Asaba’s chase.
Since its inception in 1979, 43 African countries have participated, and South Africa and Nigeria have each won the championships eight times respectively, followed by Kenya, three times and Algeria, once.
Overrating countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal and Ethiopia have never carried the championships.
As for Liberia, she has won only three bronze medals throughout the tournament in 38 years.
The Africans Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), the continental association for the Sport in Africa.
Since its’ inaugural edition in 1979, it was the first organized intermittently with nine editions held in fourteen years until 1993.
Following the tenth edition in 1996, it has been organized biennially on even years, and is always held in the same year as the summer Olympics.
The latest 20th edition was held in Durban, South Africa in June 2016.
Other teams cry foul
Hundreds of athletes scheduled to participate at the African Senior Athletics Championships are crying foul after being stranded at the Lagos Airport in Nigeria.
Usher Komugisha, a renown sports journalist from Uganda tweeted pictures of a stranded Ugandan team and a video of a Moroccan high jumper, who were lamenting that they have been stranded in Lagos for at least two days.
‘‘Nigeria has done a very POOR job with the organization of flights! Look at Team Uganda,’‘ Komugisha tweeted.
Zimbabwean Athletes are also part of this 300 that were stuck at Lagos Airport
‘‘We made it to Lagos two nights ago. We slept the first night at the airport and the second night at the hotel. They claimed that we had a flight coming today, but we have spent the whole day at the airport,” said Rhizlane Siba, a Moroccan high jumper.
‘‘We are stranded in Lagos. We haven’t trained for three days, and we haven’t eaten properly in two days,” Rhizlane added.
Our efforts to reach the organisers were futile.
The championship, hosted in the southern Delta State kicks off on Wednesday with the men’s and women’s decathlons. This year’s edition features athletes from 52 countries including global icons like South Africa’s Caster Semenya.
South Africa are the defending champions of the African Senior Athletics having hosted and won the last edition on home soil in Durban.
On Monday, the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee for the 21st African Senior Athletics Championship, Solomon Ogba told journalists that the ‘few places still being perfected’ will be ready ahead of the August 1 opening ceremony at the newly completed Stephen Keshi Stadium.
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