• Oduduru disqualified in 100m, Adegoke beats 2021 fastest-man to reach s ’finals
Duro Ikhazuagbe
Nigerian sprinter, Blessing Okagbare who tested positive for banned substances and was yesterday suspended from the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has challenged the decision and call for the testing of her ‘B’ sample.
The 32-year old Nigerian 100/200m record holder was provisionally suspended from the Games by Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after her sample collected in an out-of-competition test on July 19 turned out positive for Human Growth Hormone.
Growth Hormone is a non-specified substance on the 2021 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List and a provisional suspension is mandatory following an adverse analytical finding for such substance under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules.
But few moments after AIU issued the statement of her suspension from the semifinal of the 100m she had qualified for yesterday and also stopped from further participation in the Games, THISDAY learnt Okagbare has called for the testing of her ‘B’ sample before ban is pronounced on her.
A top Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) official confirmed Okagbare’s position.
“She has appealed for the testing of her ‘B’ sample which is a standard practice if an athlete doubts the result of the ‘A’ sample. We therefore have to wait for a few for the result before any further action,” observed the top official who did not want his name in print last night from Tokyo.
Okagbare’s suspension came on the heel of the disqualification of 10 Nigerian athletes from the Games by the AIU due to their missing the mandatory three-out-of- competitions tests before arriving Tokyo.
The 10 Nigerians were part of the 20 athletes from seven countries barred from the Games on similar ground.
The athletes however took to the streets of the Athletes Village in Tokyo on Friday to protest the poor handling of their cases by AFN and sports ministry officials.
Also yesterday, Nigeria’s third entrant in the men’s 100m, Divine Oduduru was disqualified from the event due to false start. All the sprinters in that heat had earlier been warned for a technical error.
Unfortunately, Oduduru became the scape goat as he was caught on camera false starting again. He was promptly disqualified from the 100m leaving Enoch Adegoke and Usheoritse Itshekiri as the country’s flag bearers in the event.
Adegoke who won the National Sports Festival in Benin City last April however picked athletics biggest stage to announce his arrival in the business, running a personal best of 9.98secs to win his heat.
2021 world’s fastest man, USA’s Trayvon Brommel who tops the pre-Games world list with the 9.77 seconds he ran last month in Florida was amongst the athletes Adegoke dusted en-route qualifying for the semifinals scheduled to hold today.
Along with Itshekiri, the duo will be looking to become the next Nigerians that will make the final of the event at the Games after Davidson Ezinwa and Olapade Adeniken did in the 1990s.
Adegoke has been drawn against the same athletes he defeated, Brommel, Nigeria-born Qatari, Femi Ogunode and Britain’s Zhana Hughes in the second semifinal heat while Itshekiri will run in the first semifinal and has been drawn against four sprinters who have ducked inside 10 seconds this season led by Canadian, Andre De Grasse.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan ran 12.72 seconds to win her first round heat and keep her hope of becoming the second Nigerian to win a sprint hurdles medal at the Olympics after Glory Alozie won a silver medal in Sydney in 2000.
The 24-year old has been drawn to run from lane five in the first semifinal heat at 11.45 am (Nigeria time) today.
Meanwhile, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria says it received with great shock the news of Okagbare’s suspension by the Athletics Integrity Unit for a doping rule violation.
The Federation said yesterday that it is in the process of obtaining the relevant details of the announcement after which a full reaction will be issued.
