AFP
8 July 2000 – Lagos, Nigeria - The President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Oluyomi Adeyemi-Wilson said Saturday that Nigeria will successfully defend its leadership in Africa despite the absence of several top stars at the African Athletics Championships in Algeria.
"In 1996, Nigeria came tops. Also two years ago, we came tops again. We are expecting nothing less especially as this will be seen as the perfect rehearsal for the bigger one in Sydney in September", Adeyemi-Wilson told reporters here.
"We have told the athletes that they are in Algiers for business and like a good businessman, you should come back with profit in form of gold."
Nigeria will be represented by 46 athletes at the 12th African Athletics Championships, which begin on Monday in Algiers.
Women quarter miler Falilat Ogunkoya, sprinter Mary Onyali and men high jumper Tony Idiata are the top Nigerian stars who will feature at the championships following the withdrawal of Sunday Bada (400m), Mercy Nku (100, 200m) and Glory Alozie (100m hurdles) as a result of injury.
Nigeria won 11 gold medals at the last championships in Dakar, with Falilat picking up gold and setting championships records in both the women 100 and 200m.
Nigeria have dominated the sprints, individual and relays, and the jumps at the biennial athletics meet which began in the Senegalese capital in 1979.
As of Sunday however, the Nigerian contingent are stranded in Bamako, Mali, as reported by a Nigerian TV station (NTA).
The 48-member team, which arrived in the Malian capital on Friday, are finding it difficult to get a connecting flight to Algiers.
Ghana Airways which flew the Nigerians to Mali said they were unaware of the team's travel arrangements to the north African country, the NTA said in their midday news bulletin on Sunday.
The Nigerian authorities have informed the organisers of the championships in Algiers of their plight, the NTA said.
The report said that the team hope to arrive in Algiers on Monday, the date the 12th African Athletics Championships opens.
