2014 Commonwealth sprint champion Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor and 2018 NCAA 200m champion Divine Oduduru will lead a 95-member Nigerian team for the 21st CAA African Senior Athletics Championships in Asaba, Delta State on 1-5 August.
One notable name on the list is former British high jump champion, Michael Edwards, who was barred by the IAAF from competing for Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia early this year.
Edwards, with a lifetime best of 2.25m, will compete in the men’s high jump after finally receiving clearance from the Athletics governing body to make the switch from Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Nigeria.
Other medal hopefuls in Team Nigeria include: 2018 Commonwealth Games women’s 100m hurdles gold medallist, Oluwatobiloba Amusan (100m hurdles) who will be competing in her first African Senior Championships.
Nigerian 100m champion and Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games fourth place finisher, Seye Ogunlewe, and new kid on the block Enoch Adegoke, who clocked a personal best of 10.19 secs at the Commonwealth Games, will surely give the South African and Ivorian sprinters a run for their money on home front in Asaba.
2014 Commonwealth Games Long jump champion Ese Brume signals her return to form with a season’s best of 6.82m in 2018. The home fans will hope she can replicate that form in her state stadium at Asaba 2018 next month.
South Africa won the last edition of the CAA Africa Senior Championships they hosted two years ago in Durban, with Kenya finishing second and Nigeria settling for third place.
