Athletics Federation of Nigeria president, Solomon Ogba provoked some grumblings in the ranks of Nigerian athletes by declaring that only ‘A’ standard athletes will make Nigeria’s team to the World Championships in August in Daegu, South Korea.

Judging by this pronouncement, only a handful of athletes met the ‘A’ standards and by implication,   apart from the short sprints, Nigeria may not participate in  most of the events including the relays, where the country has prospect for medals.

However, AFN officials were hopeful that other athletes would make the standard at the National Sports Festival and as it turned out to be yesterday at the close of events, it was a forlorn hope.

Dash to the finish... (from right Gloria Asumnu, Damola Osayomi and Blessing Okagbare the three women with a realistic chance of reaching the women’s 100m final at the Daegu 2011 ‘Worlds’ Photo by Sylva Eleanya

“We are only taking athletes who made the ‘A’ standards. As it is right now, we have already selected our team for the World Championships, this is because we know those who already hit the standards,” said  Ogba.

The ‘A’ standard for the men 100m is 10.18 seconds, while the ‘B’ standard is 10.25. The Women  A standard is 11. 29 and the B standard is 11.38. For the 200m  it is 20.60 and 20.70 respectively for the men and for the women they must have to make 23.00 and 23.30.

This season, Damola Osayomi, Blessing Okagbare and Gloria Asumnu are the women that have made the cut off mark. While Peter Emelieze is the only man that hit the standard with his 10.18 seconds run, athletes like Ogho-Oghene Egwero and Obinna Metu are outside the loop. However Egwero’s personal best is 10.10 he did 2010 in Abuja, technically he could be considered. Metu did not even meet the B standard with his season’s best of 10.27. His personal best of 10.16 was done in 2008.

No Nigerian was able to hit the A and B standard in the men and women 400m. Nigeria’s best performance this season is 45.88 seconds done by Goddy James. This is a far cry from the 45.25 and 45.70 A and B standards. The women are no better, the best performance is Endurance Abinuwa’s 52. 28 seconds which is good for the B standard of 52.30. The A standard is 51.50 seconds.