Favour Ofili (right) was in Nigeria’s 4x400m relay team that picked Tokyo Olympics ticket in Lagos yesterday
• Men’s 4x100m fumbles again
The financial boost of N2million dangled on the relay tickets by the President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Tonobok Okowa paid off yesterday as Nigerian women 4x400m squad took a massive leap into the top 16 of nations that qualified for the Tokyo Olympics relay event.
The team anchored by veteran, Patience Okon-George finished 3.26.33seconds to land at the 13th position with four days left for qualification deadline of June 29.
“This is a massive race by our girls,” a member of the AFN, Commodore Omatseye Nesiama screamed as he joined other board members, including the President Okowa, his vice Rosa Collins, Southwest representative on the board Solomon Alao and immediate past President Solomon Ogba in celebration in the VIP stand of the Teslim Balogun stadium.
The women’s 4x400m team, which also had Favour Ofili, Knowledge Omovoh and Imeobong Nse Uko has joined the women’s 4x100m team, which had earlier booked their ticket to the Tokyo Olympics.
Earlier on, the men 4x100m failed to get the performance they wanted. They remain rooted to 18th position after running 38.55seconds at the one-day Lagos Open Athletics Championship attended by Senegal, Zambia, Cote d’Ivoire and Benin Republic.
The women’s 4x100m team further staked a claim to one of the available two slots on offer in the event by moving one step up from 16th to 15th position following their 42.98 seconds at the AFN Olympic Trials and Invitational Relays on Sunday at YABA TECH.
Another opportunity awaits the male teams on Sunday in the Paga/MOC Invitational Relay event in Lagos.