Olympics 2021: Team Nigeria 4 x 400m Qualification Excites Mary Onyali

Team Nigeria's  4×400m Female relay team qualification to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has been described as a mission accomplished by former African, Commonwealth, and Nigerian 100 and 200m champion, Mary Onyali.

According to Onyali, who is the Special Assistant to Sunday Dare, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, "Team Nigeria's qualification in the relay in female  4 x 100m and 4 x 400m berth in the Olympics is mission accomplished.

"These championships have taken team Nigeria upwards in the world ranking.

"Before now, Team Nigeria was in 16th position in the 4 x 100m, but the time ran at Yaba Tech during the trials moved Team Nigeria up to 14th,  in the 4 x400m team Nigeria was 17th but with what was ran yesterday (Thursday),  moved us up to 13th in the world.

"Congratulations Team Nigeria, we look forward to a superb performance in Tokyo", Onyali, an Olympic medalist, affirmed.

Olympics: Okowa, Ogba optimistic about Team Nigeria’s qualification

In a piece of related news, Tonobok Okowa, the President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) says he is optimistic that the rest of the Team Nigeria’s contingent aiming to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Game will qualify.

He said this in an interview with NAN in Lagos on Friday.

The 4 by 400 women qualified for the Olympics at the Lagos State athletics Championships, which held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, unfortunately, the men keep missing narrowly.

“I believe that during the next qualifiers this weekend, the men will qualify too for the 4 by 100, this is an improvement compared to what we had at Yaba.

“As long as the time keep improving, there is hope that they will get their qualification and compete at the Olympics,’’ he said.

Sharing similar view is Solomon Ogba, a former president of the AFN, who told NAN that he was impressed with the athletes’ efforts towards ensuring that they qualify.

“If you were at Yaba, you will know that this was an improvement of what we saw then, and with this result I strongly believe that we will see them do better on Saturday.

“They are eager to qualify, and I strongly believe that they will, if they improve on what we saw here today,’’ Ogba said.

At the semi-final, the 4 by 100 relay men’s team finished at 38.59 and they finished 39. 39 at AFN organised meet at the Yaba College of Technology.