June 2009

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has set June 30th as the deadline for submission of entries for the Nkoyo Ibori Classics holding at the weekend in Oghara, Delta State.

Athletics South Africa (ASA) announced today that a team of 30 athletes will participate in the IAAF World Youth Championships in Bressanone, Italy, from 8 to 12 July. The team consists of 20 boys and 10 girls.

A record number of 179 nations will compete in Bressanone/Brixen World Youth Championships - Sudtirol 2009. Athletes are coming from as far as 18,600 km and 13 hours time difference. Opening Ceremony on July 7th.

Nigeria women's 4x100m team has qualified for the relay event at the World Athletics Championships after dipping under the 43.90 seconds IAAF qualifying standard yesterday at the NAAA/Sagicor National Track and Field Open Championships at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

Frank Fredericks has been elected as the President of Athletics Namibia (AN) after seven of the eight regions in attendance voted for him in a rescheduled election at the Special Elective Congress in Otjiwarongo yesterday.

New officers to run the affairs of Athletics Namibia (AN) are to emerge today at the Special Elective Congress to be held in Otjiwarongo, Namibia.

Athletics Kenya (AK) has selected the teams to next month's 6th IAAF World Youth Championships 'Südtirol 2009' in Bressanone, Italy (8 to 12 July) and the African Junior Championships in Mauritius later in the year, David Macharia reports for the IAAF.

Ethiopian Meselech Melkamu has become only the fourth woman in history to break the 30-minute barrier for 10,000m, clocking 29:53.80 - second fastest of all-time mark - at the Vechtse Banen in Utrecht, the Netherlands on Sunday.

Tomorrow’s 68th edition of the Internationales Stadionfest DKB-ISTAF will present some of the meeting’s strongest entry lists ever and a highly dramatic kick-off in the fight for the jackpot of the ÅF Golden League, filled with one million US-dollars in Gold.

This time around, in the Berlin Athletics Championship year 2009 (August 15th to 23rd), the by far largest German track-and-field meeting will become the outdoor season’s first major international, high-class competition event.

The traditional DKB-ISTAF – ranked fourth in 2008, based on international points for athletic performances – will host more than 280 athletes from around the world. It will be staged this coming Sunday, June 14th 2009, starting at noon (main competitions to begin at 1 pm) at the historic Olympic Stadium of the German capital.

A total of 150 athletes from 11 of the 14 Southern Region countries will be in action in the Southern Region Youth Track and Field Championships which starts today at the ABSA LC De Villiers Stadium, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Zimbabwe's Florida State University sophomore Ngonidzashe Makusha has retained his Long Jump title at the 2009 National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) outdoor track and field championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The Nigeria/Exxonmobil track and field championships has now been fixed for July 23th to 25th at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.

Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes dominate the podium, in both the male and female categories, at the first ever Port-Harcourt International Marathon held in the Nigerian oil-rich Niger Delta.

The IAAF has announced that 202 of the 213 IAAF Member Federations are set to participate at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Berlin, Germany (15 to 23 August 2009).

Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare of University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) is one of four track and field women athletes nominated for the Collegiate Women Sports Award presented by Honda to the top NCAA Division I female athletes in their sport.

South Africa topped the medals table with 12 gold, five silver and six bronze at the just concluded Southern Region Senior Championships in Gaborone, Botswana to reconfirm her leadership of the sport in the region.