Nigerian Athletes Depart For US Ahead Of Olympics

Nigerian athletes and technical hands have departed the country through Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on their way to the United States.

The athletes, 16 of them, will camp in Texas for three weeks during which they will engage in competitions ahead of Olympics in Tokyo slated for Friday, 23 July and Sunday, 8 August 2021.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, who shared photos of their departure at the airport on Thursday.

The training tour, however, remains a point of controversy between the ministry and Athletics Federation Nigeria (AFN).

On April 29, the federation announced that Team Nigeria won’t be participating in the World Athletics (WA) relays in Poland, blaming the failure on the insistence of the sports ministry to take the players to the US instead.

The athletics federations said the decision has shrunk Nigeria’s chance of competing at the relay events in Tokyo later this year.

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