Sunday Bada

As the Athletics Federation of Nigeria kick-starts the 2011 track & field season Friday with the 1st All Comers and 10km Road Race in Shagamu, Sunday Bada, the Technical Director of the federation has expressed his excitement with the level of entries received for the
competition. Bada, arguably Nigeria’s most successful quarter-miler at the global stage said yesterday that if all the 2000 entries received from the states and the para-military section of the sporting family turn up at the Shagamu Stadium, there is no reason for the opening season’s event not to be a success story.

“It is a good way to start the season. If you look at the fact that this is the first competition of the year, one will expect all the states preparing for the National Sports Festival to use the opportunity to fine-tune the skills of their athletes in camps,” observed the Sydney Olympic 4x400m gold medallist. He then added how good it is for athletes to start the season with a competition like this rather than looking for where to earn prize monies.

Events to be competed for, as listed by AFN, at the two-day track fiesta in Shagamu, include 60m, 150m, 300m, 600m, 1,000m, 5000m, 60m hurdles, 3000m hurdles. Others are high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, short put, discuss, hammer throw, 4x200m, 4x400m, decathlon (men) and heptathlon (women).

The All-Comers and the 10km road race was earlier slated to hold at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan but had to be moved to Shagamu due to the renovation works going on at the former Liberty Stadium.