Athletes chase cash, Olympics tickets, as AFN Golden League hits Abuja

Athletics followers in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and its environs will have enough to savour this weekend when the cream of Nigerian athletes converge for the first leg of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Golden League Meet billed for the National Stadium.

Aside the cash prizes for deserving athletes, the AFN will use the Golden League to pick the team for African Championships holding in South Africa next month as well as slots for the Rio Olympics.

Agnes Osazuwa, Divine Oduduru, Blessing Ibrahim and Adams Samuel, among others, who all won their respective events in Lagos, will hope to build on their good start in Abuja on Saturday, as other athletes are hoping to displace the early starters.

Head of the Media for the AFN, Olukayode Thomas, said yesterday that the country’s top athletes will on Saturday compete for mouth-watering cash prizes on offer and slots for the African Athletics Championships in Durban and the Rio Olympics. “Yes, the AFN will use the Golden League to pick the team for African Championships,” he said.

The 2016 African Championships in Athletics, which is the 20th edition, will take place from June 22 to 26 in Durban (South Africa).

Nigeria finished as runners-up behind South Africa at the last edition in Morocco and would be hoping to put up a more formidable challenge this time.

Meanwhile, some of the events listed for Saturday’s Golden League Meet include the men and women’s 100m, 200m, 400m, 4x100m, 1500m, 100m/110m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles.

The field events include the men and women’s Triple Jump, Long Jump, Javelin throw, Shot put and a host of others.