Nigeria will not compete at the 2025 World Athletics Relays
in Guangzhou, China.
Kola Daniel, the media aide of Bukola Olopade, director
general of the National Sports Commission (NSC), confirmed the development in a
message to TheCable on Thursday.
The statement said the Chinese consulate in Nigeria failed
to issue visas to seven Nigerian athletes based in the US.
NSC added that the decision was due to China’s “hard
policies against the USA”.
The commission said the Athletics Federation of Nigeria
(AFN) “did everything correctly and at the right time”, adding that the funds
for the competition had also been approved since “February/March”.
In April, AFN had released an 18-athlete team to represent
Nigeria at the competition billed to hold from May 10 to 12.
The list included Tobi Amusan, the world record holder in
the 100m hurdles, who will compete in the women’s 4x100m relay race.
Team Nigeria was billed to compete in four events: men,
women and mixed 4x100m, mixed 4x400m.
The top 14 countries in each event will secure automatic
qualification for relays at the World Athletics Championships in Japan later
this year.
NSC said AFN has sent a petition to World Athletics,
insisting Nigeria be given a free pass to qualify for the World Athletics
Championships.
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