President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Tonobok Okowa, has described as a coincidence the clash in date of the 2024 AFN National Trials in Benin City and the Eld el Kabir celebration.
The AFN had earlier fixed its trials for June 26 to 28 to meet the Olympics qualification deadline at midnight of June 29, only for the Confederations of African Athletics (CAA) to move the date for the African Senior Championships in Douala backwards to June 21 to 26, Okowa said.
“The change in date of the African Senior Athletics Championships to June 21 to 26 affected our original plans for the AFN National Trials, and I hope our Muslim brothers and sisters will see reasons with us for this clash in the date with the Eid el Kabir celebration, Okowa told The Guardian, yesterday.
“We held several meetings and did a lot of calculations trying to push the date forward to avoid the clash with the Eld el Kabir celebration, but things didn’t work.
“The major reason is that the NCAA season will end in the U.S. on June 8 and the majority of our athletes will leave for their various bases within the United States the following day (June 9).
“They will rest for just one or two daysand depart U.S. on June 12 or June 13 to arrive in Nigeria on June 14 or 15.
“It is going to be a very tight schedule for the athletes, but there is nothing we can do about it because we are using the AFN National Trials to select Team Nigeria athletes for the African Senior Championships in Douala.
“As soon as the National Trials ends in Benin City on June 18, those who make the team will head to Lagos to catch their flight to Cameroon.”
