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 Daily Independent Online.
* Friday, July 23, 2004.
Onyali: Ministry over-rules AFN
By
Peter Edema
Senior Correspondent, Lagos
Federal
Ministry of Sports and Social Development yesterday confirmed the
inclusion of sprinters Uchenna Emedolu and Mary Onyali-Omagbemi in the
Athens Olympic Games track and field team against the wishes of the Athletics Federation of
Nigeria.
The
Policy of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria is that any athlete who
fails to participate in the Mobil trials would not represent the country
in either the Olympics, the Commonwealth or the All Africa Games.
However,
Onyali-Omagbemi and Emedolu, who were absent at the Mobil trials have now
been forced down the throat of the AFN for inclusion in the Athens train.
While
the federation insisted that the rules must be adhered to, the Sports
ministry as exclusively reported by Daily Independent insisted that the
duo must be included in the team.
The confirmation came after a
meeting by the Sports Minister, Col. Musa Mohammed (rtd) with the
federations that qualified for the Olympics at the Nigeria Olympic
Committee (NOC) secretariat, yesterday .
Though,
Mohammed refused to entertain questions on the matter, the AFN president,
Dan Ngerem, said the board
of the federation would meet soon to reconsider the inclusion of the two
athletes for the Games.
According
to him, Emedolu was the only Nigerian athlete that has qualified for the
Athens Olympics 200m event.
“A
few issues have come up from
the discussion with the sports minister and the director of sports
development, Chief Patrick Ekeji. Take for example the fact that , Uchenna Emedolu has
qualified for the 200m, Nigeria is not there, should we leave that track
open? This is a very pragmatic question. The same goes for Mary
Onyali-Omagbemi.
“These
are options we also need to look at. So we are reconvening the board and
we need to discuss this issue and agree on a point that is in the best
interest of the country.
“But
for those who participated
in the Mobil trials, their positions are secure. If there is any event that
Nigeria has qualified for
and instead of leaving that track open as in the case of a top class sprinter like
Emedolu, perhaps it may be good to look at other options regarding that. These are
part of the issues we discussed,” he said.
According
to him, the final date for the submission of the list is August 8, adding
that these athletes are ranked among the best
10 in their event. He, however, hinged their final inclusion on their
fitness.
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