Nigeria’s Sprinter, Blessing Okagbare has arrived London ahead of the 2017 IAAF World Athletics World Championships.
Okagbare who will be competing at her fourth World Championship arrived in the English capital on Tuesday to step up her preparations for the competition, which begins at the Olympic Stadium in London on Friday.
The six-time national 100m champion, who won silver in long jump and bronze in 200m in her second appearance at the worlds in Moscow in 2013, will compete in the 100m and long jump events in London.
But the British High Commission has yet to grant entry visas to the athletes who are scheduled to leave Nigeria for London for the championships.
The AFN Secretary-General Amaechi Akawo said he had yet to receive any positive response from the high commission before the close of work on Tuesday.
However, the athletics chief believes the visas would be granted the athletes before the beginning of the competition.
He said, “I am regularly in communication with the IAAF and I believe the embassy will realise that the athletes and officials whose passports are before it are representing the most populous black nation on earth and a strong member of the commonwealth.”
Akawo, who confirmed Okagbare’s arrival in London, also said the new AFN president Ibrahim Gusau arrived in the capital city on Monday ahead of the 51st IAAF Congress.
Meanwhile, former national triple jump champion Tosin Oke has been cleared to compete at the athletics showpiece. The London-born was not initially listed for the competition.
Spokesman for the AFN Dare Esan said the IAAF informed the national athletics body about the development on Tuesday.
Oke, who holds a personal season’s best of 16.70m, qualified for the worlds following his victory at the African Championships last year in Durban, South Africa. The jumper will be will be making his third competitive trip to the championships after making his debut in 2009 in Berlin.
Source: ( Punch Newspaper )