Following the record-breaking performance by Tobi Amusan at the just concluded World Athletics Championships in Oregon, United States, Team Nigeria will be the cynosure of all eyes as the athletics event of the 2022 Commonwealth Games begin today at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.
Already, virtually all the athletics contingent led by Amusan and Ese Brume are already in Birmingham as the men’s team led by national champion Favour Ashe lead others in the men’s 100m heat today.
Ashe who made it to the semifinal of the men’s 100m of the World Championships will be hoping to put the disappointment of making it to the final behind him with the hope that he would exceed his 9.99secs feat in Benin.
Also in the men’s 100m is 2019 African Games champion Raymond Ekevwo and he is expected to compete in the men’s 4 × 100 m relay alongside Ashe.
Nathaniel Ezekiel will also compete in the 400m heat later today.
Meanwhile, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria(AFN) has enthused that its contingent would performed creditably at Birmingham 2022.
“The track and field team will surely surpass that record here in Birmingham,” Sydney 2000 Olympics gold medallist and AFN’s first Vice President , Tafida Gadzama, said. “There has been a resurgence in our performances since the present board of the AFN was inaugurated in June 2021.
“ Our programme and engagements with our athletes have been richly rewarded such that we have either returned the team to podium finishes after over a decade of fruitless trips to major global championships or achieve feats unprecedented.
“Tobi Amusan (who broke the women’s 100m hurdles world record at the recent Athletics World championships in Oregon) has given our athletes renewed hopes they can aspire to become the best in the world and we are hoping some of them will start that journey here in Birmingham,” he added.