Nigeria DNQ men's 4x100!

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Nigeria’s 4x100m relay team of Obinna Metu, Egwero Ogho-Oghene, Chinedu Oriala and Peter Emelieze failed to make the cut for the 400m relay event of the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics which starts next week in Berlin, Germany.

The team, led by Tony Osheku, arguably Nigeria’s most successful coach failed to attain the 39.10 cut-off mark set by the IAAF as the qualification period elapses today.The Nigerian team had chased the ticket to Wattechield in Bochum,Germany on Sunday but expectedly failed to make it after shoddy travel arrangements ensured they arrived at the venue of the meeting barely hours before the race.

The team, Complete Sports gathered only managed to leave the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos on Saturday night after missing their KLM flight a day earlier.

The quartet led by Osheku had been in Abuja preparing for the meet which incidentally was arranged for the team by Osheku.They were supposed to leave Abuja early on Friday for Lagos to connect the flight to Amsterdam en route Bochum in the Westfallen area of Germany but did not leave Abuja until 8pm on Friday.

It was gathered that the Athletic Federation of Nigeria could not raise the money for the local flight from Abuja to Lagos on time.

Nigeria will present only three relay teams viz the men’s 4x400m which secured the ticket last month at the Abuja CAA Super Grand Prix and the women’s 4x100m and 4x40 teams.

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Do you think the officials will have a problem raising enough money to send themselves to Berlin? (I doubt it!)

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I’m not even sure they will come, in Osaka a couple of officials only came in the middle of the week so that we deal with the administrative stuff - only to discover that they forgot to register a dozen of names in the list - this was a good thing the officials weren’t in Osaka when the athletes couldn’t find their names on the lists, there would have been murders.

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ANYWAY, NOW IT’S ALL FASUBA’S FAULT…THE RELAY DNQ, THE INSURGENCY IN NIGERIA’S NORTH… EVERYTHING

Nigeria: Fasuba’s Absence Cost Us 4X100 Relay Ticket - Bada
Ibraheem A. Fatai
5 August 2009

The inability of the Nigerian 4x100m men team to qualify for the 12th IAAF World Championship slated for Berlin, Germany, has been attributed to the absence of the African fastest man, Olusoji Fasuba, in the team that chased the qualification ticket to Bochum, Germany.

Disclosing this in an exclusive interview with Trustsports yesterday, the Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Sunday Bada, said the team that was taken to Germany by Coach Tony Osheku had a weak leg.

It will be recalled that some frantic efforts made by the AFN to secure a qualification ticket for the 4x100m men relay team fell through as the quartet of Obinna Metu, Egwero Ogho-Oghene, Chiinedu Oriala and Peter Emelieze failed to make the 39.10 standard set by the IAAF.

"We could not present a strong team in Bochum because Olusoji Fasuba could not make the team. He was not able to get his visa sorted out early enough to be part of the team, making it impossible for us to present a strong team.

“Fasuba would have added a lot of strength to our team and secure the much needed ticket for us, but his absence cost us the ticket. Unfortunately, that was the last opportunity for us to grab a ticket for the World Athletic Championship. Well there is nothing serious to be worried about, since the failure has come and gone,” Bada said.

On preparation of the athletes in camp for the game which will kick-off next week, the African record holder in the 400m men said, “The athletes are in top shapes for the games. They know what World Athletics Championships is all about and what effects it will have on their careers. So, we can say that all of them are working very hard to do the country proud in Berlin.”

[b]Asked whether the athletes are well motivated to go the extra miles to bring honours to Nigeria, the Olympics silver medallist said all that is necessary to make the athletes shine in Berlin have been put in place by the Nigerian athletics ruling body.

He also revealed that the Nigerian team for the Berlin game will round up their training at the weekend and depart Nigeria for Germany next Monday or Tuesday, adding that arrangements for smooth trip have been made.[/b]

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So, is it Monday or Tuesday? How come they don’t know yet.

Visa or not, Olu is wise to avoid late relay regroupements, as he injured his ankle during a relay training 4 days before the individual 100m where he was leading the future silver medalist for 40m before fading while in upright position and full ankle extension and didn’t advance for the semis. He was then not able to warm-up for the relay heats as his ankle was worst, so eh was replaced by someone else, he therefore announced his retirement for all post-Games competitions, but still received a 3 weeks ban from Bada for lack of patriotism.

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Two contradictory statements. The Fed has everything arranged yet you don’t know when they’re going??
Total group of fuck-ups!
We can just stay tuned for the next chapter…