Damola Osayomi
The rivalry between Ogho Oghene Egwero and Peter Emelieze will be strengthened at the Warri Relays and CAA Grand Prix scheduled for Thursday at the Warri Stadium.
Until Egwero stormed into serious reckoning, Obinna Metu was the pretender to the sprinting throne. But all that changed with the emergency of the petit Delta sprinter into the scene. They both were alternating the All Nigeria track and field title.
But this season, Emelieze has returned to serious contention, with the wind assisted 10.08 he posted during the training tour of the United States of America. Now everyone is on the lookout for what will happen at Thursday’s Grand Prix in Warri as both sprinters have been paired to run in the same 100m Premium event.
Egwero ran 10.13 to place fourth behind Peter Emelieze (10.08) at the 54th annual Mount San Anthonio (Mt SAC) Relays in California, USA last month. Of course, American Walter Dix won the race Emelieze was however denied the new PB because of the +2.6 tail wind.
Now, the duo have the chance to try each other before the Nigerian Olympic trials scheduled for between June 19 and June 21 in Calabar.
Others to also run in the Premium event include Amr Sequid of Egypt, Gibrilla Pato of Sierra Leone and Antoine Adams of St Kitts and Neville. Ike Patrick Chinedu is another Nigeria coming in for the event.
In the female version, Nigerian female sprinters like Lauretta Ozoh, Agnes Osazuwa and Endurance Abinuwa are in the race even as top runners like Blessing Okagbare, Gloria Asumnu and Damola Osayomi are unavailable.
Sixty-one entries have been received from over 20 countries to participate at this year’s Warri Relay and CAA Athletics Grand Prix scheduled for Thursday, June 14 in Warri, Delta State.
Some of the countries where these athletes are coming from include; USA, Jamaica, Bahamas, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent, Egypt, Cameroon, Botswana, Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Ethiopia, Liberia and Uganda.
According to the Coordinator of the Meet, Yusuf Alli, most of the athletes expected at the one-day event have started arriving Nigeria with the last batch scheduled to coming into town Wednesday.