Ten years after missing the 2007 African Junior Championships held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, history is being repeated as Nigeria will be conspicuously missing when events get underway at Lala Setti Athletics Stadium, venue of the 2017 edition of the competition which kicked off in Tlemcen, Algeria on Thursday, June 29th, to end on July 2nd.
This is the first time in recent times that Nigeria is not sending a team to the African Junior Championships, having amassed a total of 74 medals (33 Gold, 23 Silver & 18 Bronze) across four African Junior Championships from 2009 to 2015.
Incidentally, Nigeria topped the medals table at the last edition of the Championships held in Ethiopia two years ago, winning a total of 27 medals, eight of which were GOLD. Nigeria has dominated the Sprints and Relays at African Junior (U-20) level, winning 17 medals in 2009, 11 medals in 2011, and 19 medals in 2013.
The 2017 Athletics season has been one to forget for Nigerian athletes, as Track and Field activities have been hampered due to the dissolution of Sports Federations boards in April, and subsequent elections into the various boards in June. The new boards will be inaugurated by Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung on July 10th in Abuja.
As it stands, Nigeria is also in danger of missing the IAAF World U-18 Championships billed to hold in Nairobi, Kenya from July 12th, which will be a shame, considering that this is only the second time the event will be staged on the continent, and also happens to be the last ever edition of the competition.
If this happens, this will be the second consecutive World U-18 Championships Nigeria will be missing after a no-show in Cali two years ago due to the inability of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) to secure transit visas for the athletes and officials on time.
The 13th edition of the ongoing African Juniors had suffered a series of hiccups and postponements, having earlier been scheduled to hold in March, before being postponed to May, and then finally moved to June 29th. The competition kicks off with the Men and women’s 100m heats.
Other events holding on Day 1 include the men and women’s 400m heats, Decathlon, women’s Pole vault final, 100m Hurdles heats, women’s 800m heats, men’s Long Jump final, women’s Discus final, men’s 1500m heats, 100m semis, men’s 400m Hurdles heats, women’s 3000m final, and men’s 3000m Steeplechase final.
