Nigeria: Kemasuode Targets Sprint Double
This Day (Lagos)
3 July 2007
Posted to the web 3 July 2007
Duro Ikhazuagbe
Lagos
Gloria Kemasuode, winner of the100m title of the Exxon Mobil Track and Field Championship in Lagos last month has set for herself the target of winning the two sprint gold medals of next month’s All Africa Games in Algeria.
Speaking with THISDAYSports at the Mike Adenuga Towers in Lagos Wednesday during the $2 million contract signing ceremony between telecommunications giants Globacom and the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Kemasuode insisted that despite Team Nigeria not em-barking on any foreign training “We are going to sweep the sprint medals.”
Clean shaven and wearing the ambience of a well honed athlete, the Bayelsa-born athlete who won the Mobil 100m ti-tle with a modest 11.42secs revealed that she has never been in this perfect shape in a very long while.
“I have really worked hard for the Games. I went out of my way to deny myself basic luxuries simply because I want to prove a point at the Games in Algiers. After all these, I think I can confidently say that my target is to win both the 100m and 200m gold medals of the All Africa Games in Algiers,” enthused the sprinter, who despite winning the Commonwealth Games Trials in Abuja last year could not make the Melbourne Games due to immigration hassles.
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Although Kemasuode agreed that the foreign tour would have helped to gauge the readiness of Team Nigeria through competitions, “that, however, does not mean that the athletes in camp here in the country have given up hopes of doing well. Team Nigeria remains the country to beat in the track and field of the Games.”
On plans ahead of the Athletics World Championships slated for August 25 through September 2 in Osaka, Japan, the reigning Nigeria sprint queen believes her programmes will take off in full gear after the Games in Algiers.
“I like to take my programmes one at a time. I am working and hope my programme for the World Championships gets into full swing after Algiers. But first, my concentration is on the All Africa Games,” concluded Mobil champion.