Lagos – Commodore Omatseye Nesiama, the Technical Director, Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) on Monday said he was excited about Nigeria’s gold medal at the race walk event of the 2nd African Youth Athletics Championships (AYAC).

Fadekemi Olude won a gold medal in the Girls Race Walk event at the Championships held in Mauritius from April 23 to April 26.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Olude was the only Nigerian athlete that participated in the event.

Nesiama told NAN from U.K on phone that it was encouraging that the strategy adopted by the federation to enter a new event was yielding good result.

“I am excited about the performance of our girls to the African Youth Athletics Championships. The high point was the Girls Race Walk gold medal delivered by Olude.

“It is encouraging that our strategy of diversifying into other areas not so traditional to us is working.

“I knew that we can dominate Race Walk in Africa and that is why I have been encouraging that event,’’ he said.

He said that with the recent development, events like the race walk, Decathlon, Heptathlon and 800m would be given full support.

“With this victory now, there is no going back on providing full support to that event henceforth.

“As a technical director, I shall drive our technical effort in the event areas such as Race Walk, Combined Events (Decathlon, Heptathlon) and 800m.

“If we can dominate these events in any championship, we can easily win at least four medals from areas that we would normally not consider,” he said.

Due to Nigeria’s inability to get to the Championships early, the athletes missed some events, but clinched two gold and four silver medals. (NAN)