By Ben Efe

Nigerian athletes invited to the ‘conditioning camp’ opened by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN have settled down to do some work, but some top athletes have opted out preferring to be with their coaches.

The camp opened last weekend in Abuja with the AFN technical committee nursing the ambition of putting the invited athletes in top shape for the 2014 season campaigns. However, some of them have applied to stay away, while others like Obinna Metu as at Thursday have not reported to camp well outside the deadline set by the AFN technical committee director, Omatseye Nesiama.

Metu’s coach, Uchenna Emedolu however, confirmed that the lanky sprinter will join the camp later . Speaking on the athletes that wanted to stay back, Navy Commodore Nesiama stated that he indeed received application from hammer thrower, Queen Obisesan, Sarah Malagu and others.

“If these athletes are better off training with their coaches, that is okay with us. I will equate them with  those who are overseas training with their coaches. So we have resolved that those who want to stay away will be replaced by others who want to be in the programme,”said Commodore Nesiama.

“We have also taken into consideration those who are in school. The coaches have reached a resolution that should there be need for them to go back to school when the ASUU strike is called off; they will be given a programme they can be training with. The basic thing is that they should be in camp for at least two weeks so that they can be accessed and also benefit from the camping.

Also speaking on the dust raised by athletes who are in the top ten AFN ranking yet did not make the camp, Nigeria Track and Field coaches Association president, Gabriel Okon, explained that the ranking was not necessarily a yardstick for the selection.

“There are some athletes outside the top ten whom the technical committee felt have better prospects. There are others who are younger and have more to gain than the older ones. We are just looking at the athletes for now. The coaches are ready to work and by the end of the exercise, we hope to see the effect,” Okon said.