Brume doubtful as Team Nigeria hits Glasgow for indoor championships

Nigeria’s contingent to the 2024 World Indoor Championship is expected to arrive in Glasgow, Scotland today for the event, which begins this evening.

The team is led by the Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Samuel Onikeku. However, there were indications, yesterday, that World Silver Medalist, long jumper, Ese Brume, may not make the party due to difficulties in securing travel documents from her base in the United States.

In Tobi Amusan’s absence, Nigeria’s medal hopes in this year’s World Indoor Championship rests on Brume, who will be seeking to win gold after becoming the first Nigerian long jumper to win medals at the world indoor and outdoor championships.

The long jumper won bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar and silver at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, USA. She also won silver at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

Brume is the only woman on the list in Nigeria’s final entry for the World Indoor Championships. The Guardian learnt, yesterday, that Brume submitted her international passport at the U.S. Embassy in December, last year, but only got her clearance to travel on Wednesday morning.

As of yesterday, officials of the AFN were still battling to secure her UK visa to enable her to jet out to Scotland for the championships. Another member of the squad, Sikiru Adeyemi, was still also battling to secure his travel visa in Nigeria, yesterday, for the trip to Glasgow.

Adeyemi, a 100m and 400m runner, is listed alongside Chidi Okezie, Dubem Nwachukwu and Edosie Ibadin in Nigeria’s 4x400m team. They will compete against the USA, Poland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Slovak Republic and Kenya.

An AFN official hinted yesterday that United States-based throwers, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Edosie Ibadin and Dubem Nwachukwu were on their way to Glasgow. Enekwechi will compete in the shot-put event, while Ibadin and Nwachukwu compete in the 400m and 800m respectively.