By Jacob Ajom
National and African record holder in long jump, Yusuf Ali has described the performance of Nigerian male athletes in the just-concluded African Athletics Championships in Kenya as embarrassing and short of expectations.

In a chat with Sports Vanguard at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, the former Nigerian Olympic Games captain said “I was personally disappointed by the male athletes, particularly with Metu,”  who competed in the sprints, an area that was Nigeria’s exclusive preserve in the active days of Yusuf Ali and his contemporaries.

“They disappointed me and the entire country because we had expected a lot from them,” Ali said, but quickly added, “Nigerian girls, especially, Blessing Okagbare were fantastic as they propelled the country to a respectable position on the medal table.”

He said the performance of the female athletes was a welcome development as they have proved that only dedication and hard work could bring positive results.

Ali whose 8.27 metres leap in 1987 remains untainted wondered if there was any athlete in the present dispensation that could break that record if all they had to show was the performance in Kenya.

Although he was full of praise for the President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Solomon Ogba and his technical director, Sunday Bada, Ali called for an urgent return to the grassroots.

“The Kenya outing is a strong warning to the fact that we need fresh legs in our athletics. If we cannot win the sprints in Africa, then where a we headed? Is it at the Commonwealth Games or the Olympics?” he asked helplessly, emphasising, “we must return to the grassroots.”