By Ben Efe
Athletics Federation of Nigeria officials are targeting a clean sweep of the All African Games billed for September in Congo Brazzaville after the Nigerian team made a triumphant return from the African Junior championships in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last weekend.

•United we Stand… Nigerian juniors pleading for adequate training and preparations for major international meets.

Nigeria won 12 gold, eight silver, and seven bronze medals. South Africa was second with nine gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals, while the host country Ethiopia was third with six gold, 12 silver and ten bronze medals.

Nigeria’s cause was helped by Divine Oduduru and Ese Brume who won three gold medals each in their respective events in the sprints and the jumps.

“We are very excited winning the African junior back to back. Even more interesting is the fact that we won in areas like men’s decathlon and pole vault, which are not our specialties,” said AFN technical director, Navy Commodore Omatseye Nesiama.

He added that the next assignment will be the African youth championships for under-17 athletes. The event is billed for Mauritius in April. Nigeria won the maiden edition hosted by Delta State in Warri 2013.

Also speaking on arrival was Seigha Porbeni, the head of the coaches to the meet in Addis Ababa. He stated that Nigeria has the potentials to dominate the African continent in athletics in the next decade with the calibre of junior athletes the country was producing.

“Of course our next target is the All Africa Games. We have good athletes; and with the right training we will also win at the senior level.”