By Yomi Omogbeja (20/02/2006)

Nigerian born-Australian Ambrose Ezenwa has finally been cleared to compete for Australia at the 18th Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next month.

Ezenwa will make his debut at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games for his adopted country after being named as part of the 123-member Australian team in 100m, 200m and 4x100m.

The 29-year-old former University of Ibadan undergraduate became an Australian citizen last April, but has had to wait until this month to become fully eligible to represent his new country in international competitions.

Having achieved the 100m 'A' qualifying standard earlier this month with 10.18 seconds, Ezenwa clocked 10.37 seconds at the 84th Australian championships trials last week to place second to defending champion Joshua Ross (10.35secs) and was third in the 200m in 20.78 seconds.

Ezenwa journey to Australian citizenship began in late 2000 when he and a teammate [Gloria Kemasuode] stayed behind after the Sydney Olympic Games.

He was also a part of the Nigerian 4x100 relay team, but did not compete in the Athens 2004 Olympics and the frustration of attending two consecutive Olympic Games as a spectactor, drove him to change his allegiance.

He finally called it in after the African championships in Brazaville in 2004, thus began the period of total withdrawal from international competitions missing out of the Helsinki 2005 world championships in athletics.

Speaking to the local media on his pain, Ezenwa said: "It has been a lot of stress, a lot of pressure.

"It has been hard to train but not compete. Sometimes I felt that I would give up, but I'm happy that it finally came through."

However, former University of Ibadan sprinter, Gloria Kemasuode, who last year hinted at changing allegiance to Australia, would still be representing her fatherland in Melbourne after winning the 100m at the Nigerian Championships in 11.33 seconds.