Okagbare, Enekwechi begin action at London 2017

Okagbare, Enekwechi begin action at London 2017

Idris Adesina

Blessing Okagbare, Samson Nathaniel and Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, will be competing on Saturday at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London.

Nigeria are  featuring 17 athletes  in the competition, which is in its   16th edition.

They are  Okagbare (100m, long jump), Tobi Amusan (100m hurdles), Enekwechi  (shot put), Samson Nathaniel (400m), Glory Nathaniel (400m), Ajayi Yinka (400m), Patience Okon-George (400m), Bamgbose Margaret (400m) and  Abike Egbeniyi (400m).

Others are  Ese Brume (long jump), Emerald Egwin (400m),  Edose Ibadin (800m) and African triple jump champion, Tosin Oke,  Aniekeme Alphonsus, Maria Thompson, Lindsey Lindlay and Jennifer Madu.

United States-based  Enekwechi, who is attending the competition for the first time, will begin his campaign in the qualifiers of the event. It will be the first time he will be  representing  Nigeria and will be a hoping a repeat of his 21.07m season’s  best at the competition.

Samson Nathaniel, who is the only home-based male athlete in the London 2017  national team,   will take his turn in the men’s 400m as he hopes to make a memorable debut at athletics’ biggest stage.

Okagbare will then take the stage in the afternoon in the women’s 100m heats as she hopes to make it four consecutive appearances in the final of the event.

The Nigerian,who successfully completed a sprint double on in 2014 when she won the 100m and 200m gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow,Scotland has been drawn against USA’s Torie Bowie in the third heat of the first round of the 100m.

Okagbare will run from lane 8 while Bowie will run from lane 4.Both Okagbare and Bowie should be among the three automatic qualifiers from the heat alongside either Desire Henry of Britain or Ivet Lalova-Colio of Bulgaria.

On  Sunday,  Ajayi, Bamgbose and  Okon-George will compete in the women’s 400m heats.

While Ajayi and Bamgbose will be making their debuts in the championships, Okon-George will strive to make it at least a back-to-back semifinal appearance in the event. She raced all the way to the semifinals two years ago  at   the Beijing  2015 worlds.