By Oluwamayomikun Orekoya

Nigeria will be joining the rest of the world when the mixed 4X400m relay event makes a debut at the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after the quartet of Chidi Okezie, Samson Nathaniel, Patience Okon-George and Imaobong Nse Uko met the qualification time for the event yesterday at the Paga/MoC Relays at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) Sports Complex in Lagos.

Apart from setting a new national record, the team now occupies 15th place with a time of 3:14.09 to displace Czech Republic and Ukraine from the ranking ladder.

The mixed team will now join the women’s 4X100m and 4X400m to compete in the relay event of the Olympic Games in Japan.

Read Also: Gunshots as Police, land grabbers clash in Osun

However, the men’s 4X100m failed in their quest to be part of the show in Tokyo after missing the qualifying time despite posting a season-best (SB) of 38.53secs by the quartet of Enoch Adegoke, Usheoritse Itshekiri, Godson Brume, and Jerry Jakpa as against the 38.46secs required to berth in Tokyo.

The current fastest man in Nigeria Adegoke, who anchored the race for the team stated that the team were disappointed that they could not meet the clearly defined target but assured Nigerians that the team would learn from mistakes made and bounce back.

“We had a target and ran our best but sadly we could not make the required time for qualification,” Adegoke told reporters after the race. “The team is angry but hopefully, we will return stronger and better next time.”

However, Jakpa said he is not too disappointed with the results, adding that the team posted a season-best time and finished with a time that the country has not posted for a long time.

He also absolved the team from any blame, revealing that the team had only a week to prepare, stating also that the team would have not been at this precarious position had the country been represented at the World Relays in Poland earlier in the year.