Sprinting sensations Favour Ofili and Rosemary Chukwuma may miss the World Athletics Championships in Budapest next month as the Athletics Federation of Nigeria is sticking to its rule that cannot compete in a global championship without the start of the country’s national qualifiers.
Nigeria’s national qualifiers took place from July 5 to 7 in Benin, which was also the venue for selecting the World Athletics Championships squad.
Big names like world record holder and world champion in 100m hurdles Tobi Amusan, long jumper Ese Brume and more participated in the qualifiers.
Favour Ofili, who is Nigeria’s current leader in the 200m with 22.58sec, as well as Rosemary Chukwuma, who clocks 11.01sec in the 100m, surprisingly did not turn up for Benin.
Both have World Athletics Championships quotas covered, but the local federation insists the rules will be respected and both may not start in Budapest.