Despite many of Nigeria’s top Athletes being far away in the US on a training tour, the inaugural AFN/MoC Invitational holding at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, on Saturday (May 22nd) still promises to serve some mouth-watering action, going by the Track & Field Startlists of the one-day event.
A total of 312 Athletes are expected to compete across 12 Track and four Field events as seen in the updated Full Invited List for the competition. The Track events to be featured are the Men’s & Women’s 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 100/110m Hurdles & 400m Hurdles. Here are the Startlists for the Track Events.
The Field events listed are the men’s High Jump, women’s Long Jump, men’s Triple Jump and women’s Shot put. Here are the Startlists for the Field Events. Registration is still open for the women’s Shot put event which is a late replacement for the women’s Discus which had to be cancelled due to safety concerns.
Three-time National men’s 100m Champion Seye Ogunlewe is one of the Athletes listed for the men’s 100m in what will be his first competition this year. It will be interesting to see what he has up his sleeves as he goes against the likes of Ogho-Oghene Egwero, Kenya’s Mike Mokamba, Adekalu Fakorede, Idjesa Uruemu, Efe-Sam Agalive, Gafar Audu and a host of others.
In the women’s 100m, some of the Athetes to watch out for include Praise Ofoku who finished 4th in the women’s 100m and won Bronze in the 200m at the NSF, Beijing 2008 Silver Medallist Agnes Osazuwa, Blessing Ogundiran and Balikis Yakubu to mention a few.
The men’s 400m will feature the likes of Afeez Abdulrahman, Chidera Johnson, Sewekan Thovoethin and Adeola Ayo, while Blessing Ovwighoadjebre, Blessing Oladoye, Mercy Umoibang and Comfort Ekanem are expeted to race in the women’s event.
Edo 2020 GOLD Medallist in the men’s 800m Edidiong Udo will headline the event as he squares off with the likes of Goke Ogunseye, while NSF Silver Medallist in the women’s event, Charity Agofure is expected to compete at the MoC/AFN Invitational as well.
The 110m Hurdles is going to provide one of the major highlights of the AFN/MoC Invitational as the Top 4 finishers at last month’s NSF in Benin – Abejoye Oyeniyi, Wisdom Musa, Martins Oghierakhi and Samuel Osadolor re-ignite their rivalry once again, with each one having a point to prove. The women’s 100m Hurdles is also going to be an interesting event as Edo 2020 Silver Medallist Miracle Thompson faces Ese Awusa.
Former National Champion Henry Okorie is expected to headline the men’s 400m Hurdles as he faces Prior Ochonogor and Gbenga Bakre, while Daisy Akpofa, Comfort Ekanem and Adaeze Nwokike will compete in the women’s event.
The men’s High Jump is poised to be a scintillating affair as the podium finishers at the Edo2020 NSF – David Aya, Cyprian Oyedele and Mike Edwards engage in a battle of superiority for the third time this year.
Edwards won the first encounter at the BetKing/3rd MoC Grand Prix while youngster David Aya got his pound of flesh at their second meeting in Benin. It remains to be seen who the winner at the Invitational will be.
The competition is to kick off at 9am as shown in the Event Schedule.
