23 June 2011
All eyes will be fixed on the sprints duo of Blessing Okagbare and Damola Osayomi when the All Nigeria/Cross River State Athletics Championships begin this morning inside the mainbowl of the U.J Esuene Stadium in Calabar.
The duo are among the over 300 athletes who will be jostling for tickets to get on board the Team Nigeria train to both the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea in August and the 10th All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique a month later.
As many as five African champions from last year’s 17th African Championships in Nairobi, Kenya , two reigning All Africa Games champions and Commonwealth Games triple jump king, Tosin Oke will be competing in a championships the government of Cross River state is bankrolling to the tune of N50m.
The men and women’s 100m race is, however, expected to provide the fiercest of battles as the respective defending champions are up against formidable challengers who ,on current form should be crowned champions.
In the men’s 100m, defending champion, Obinna Metu will be hoping he gets past his indifferent form which has seen him run a 10.27 season’s best to set yet another championships history.
Metu won the title last year to become the first man in recent championships history to win the 100m title three consecutive times. He can extend that record in Calabar if he outruns the duo of Peter Emelieze who on current form should be king of the blue ribband event this year following his 10.18 national lead and Ogho-Oghene Egwero who dominated the Athletic Federation of Nigeria Golden League series. He is also the pre-championships’ second fastest man behind Emelieze.
The pendulum is, however, swinging towards Metu who has proved to be an athlete for the big occasion. He won his first title in 2008 as an underdog, pulling the rug off the feat of Olusoji Fasuba, who a year earlier dominated the African scene by winning the All Africa Games gold in the event.
In the women’s version, the battle will be fiercer as Okagbare, the defending champion, will be seeking a third consecutive title after winning in 2009 and 2010. A win for her in Calabar will make her only the third woman in championships’ recent history to win the title three times back-to-back.
She, however, have to spare a though for Osayomi, the lady she dethroned in 2009 if she is desirous of joining Mary Onyali and Endurance “Bulldozer” Ojokolo as three times back-to-back winner.
With Osayomi’s incredible 10.99 seconds run in Brazil last month, this race has not only become a must win for Okagbare, she will also have to break the 11 seconds duck. The reigning African sprints queen was touted as the new Mary Onyali following her b old race to glory in 2009 when she ran 11.16 to stop Osayomi’s second term ambition.
Her former head coach at University of Texas in El Paso even dubbed her the new Marion Jones following the incredible manner she took the American Collegiate circuit by storm last year.
To many athletics watchers, it was only a matter of time before she becomes the fourth Nigerian woman after Glory Alozie (10.90),Chioma Ajunwa (10.84) and Mary Onyali (10.97) to run inside 11 seconds in the event. But Osayomi beat her to that honour recently.
So Okagbare who holds an 11.08 season’s best and a personal best of 11.00 seconds will be fighting two battles and she looks capable of achieving both.
The race at the U.J Esuene stadium may be the fastest 100m race the championships has ever witnessed if both athletes run to their potentials. No sub-11 seconds has ever been recorded in the championships and history can just be made this week in Calabar.
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Nigeria: Okagbare, Osayomi Take Centre Stage