Nigeria’s relay teams fail to book Tokyo ticket as Olympic trials end

Nigeria’s relay teams have failed to secure the berth to represent the country at rescheduled Olympic games in Tokyo.

Nigeria men’s 4x100m and 4x400m teams missed out on the Tokyo 2020 tickets on the final of the national Olympics trials which were held in Lagos on Sunday. 

The teams competed against their counterparts from Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Benin Republic, Zambia and Cameroon in the invitational relay. 

The men’s 4×100 metres team, which comprises Enoch Adegoke, Usheoritse Itshekiri, Godson Brume and Adelaku Fakorede, could only post 39.37 seconds as against the 38.46 needed for a place in Tokyo.

The women’s team, which had only provisionally qualified for the games, also failed to consolidate their position at the Olympics after they only clocked a tentative 42.97 seconds that put them in the 15th qualification position.

The quartet of Blessing Okagbare, Grace Nwokocha, Favour Ofili and Rosemary Chukwuma must hope that no other country beats the time before next week to ascertain their qualification.

In the 4×400 metres relay events, both the men and women teams fell short of the required time for an Olympic ticket.

The women’s team led by Yinka Ajayi couldn’t match 3:30.02 which is the minimum requirement for qualification. 

The men’s team posted 3:05.54 which was below the time needed for an Olympic berth.

However, all hopes are not lost as the teams will have another chance to secure their qualification at the Lagos State Athletics meet, a one-day event billed for Thursday at the Teslim Balogun stadium in Lagos.