NSC To Host Event For Nigeria, Other Countries To Qualify For World Championships

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has accused Chinese authority of frustrating the nation’s athletes from participating in the 2025 World Relays, which begins this Saturday and end on Sunday in Guangzhou, China.

The athletes and their official were issued visas late on Thursday, four days after Team Nigeria’s plans of departing for the far East country to acclimatise and also practice baton exchange in readiness for the World Relays.

A statement by AFN President Chief Tonobok Okowa, made available to The Guardian, on Friday morning, said: “We announces with deep regret the withdrawal of Team Nigeria from the 2025 World Relays in Guangzhou, China, despite visas finally being issued late on Thursday-far too late for meaningful participation in the competition. This last-minute issuance, occurring on the very day our team was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou, renders participation logistically impossible and demonstrates a fundamental failure of Chinese administrative processes.”

Highlighting the specific failures by Chinese authority, the AFN boss said: “Chinese authorities imposed visa requirements that far exceeded international sporting norms, including demands for documentation that was particularly burdensome for Nigerian nationals. There were deliberate processing delays without reasonable explanation despite our team submitting passport applications at Chinese Embassies in Washington DC, Berlin, and Abuja early enough before the competition.

“The Chinese visa system’s requirement for a special “Verification Letter of Invitation” was poorly communicated and inconsistently applied, with LOC officials themselves unclear about their own procedures. Even after all documentation was finally accepted as complete, Chinese authorities held the applications for additional days without justification, only to issue the visas on May 8-the very day the team needed to be in China.”

Okowa explained that the “last-minute visa issuance resulted in physical impossibility of reaching competition venues in time for key events, wasted training preparations specifically tailored for the competition, significant financial losses in airfare, accommodation, and logistics, loss of crucial qualification opportunities as well as psychological impact on athletes who were prepared to compete at the World Relays.”

The AFN boss, who is seeking a re-election in the fast approaching elective congress, further stated that the last-minute visa issuance by Chinese authorities represents a diplomatic failure that has ‘profound sporting consequences.’

“This act by the Chinese authority can only be interpreted as either gross administrative incompetence or a deliberate attempt to exclude Nigerian athletes from the World Relays. While we acknowledge that visas have finally been issued, this action comes far too late to be meaningful. The 48+ hours of travel time required to reach Guangzhou from our athletes’ current locations would result in arrival after key events have been concluded. This is not a viable competitive scenario for athletes who have trained years for this opportunity. The AFN has fulfilled every reasonable obligation and our athletes have met every qualification standard. The responsibility for this situation rests entirely with Chinese authorities whose visa processes have failed to support the international sporting community.

“We call on World Athletics to review host country selection criteria to ensure future competitions are held in nations with visa processes that truly support global participation, Despite this significant setback, the AFN reaffirms its unwavering commitment to Nigerian athletes and will pursue appropriate compensation for financial losses incurred, request that World Athletics implement stricter host country requirements regarding visa accessibility and refocus our athletes’ preparation toward upcoming international,” Okowa added.

Meanwhile, the Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Chief Bukola Olopade has said that plans are underway for the body to organise relay championships where Team Nigeria and other nations can pick qualification tickets for the World Athletics Championships holding in Tokyo, Japan in September.

“This was the primary goal of the trip to China, which has now been cancelled,” Olopade said. “We are hosting the African U-20 Championships in Abeokuta, Ogun State in July so we are looking at having a relay championship at the same time.

All is not lost for our athletes. They can still qualify for the World Championships. We are going to invite some of the countries who did not also go to China for the World Relays. We did everything we could. The NSC was ready with funds for the team, but it was the policies of the host City Guangzhou and the inability of the World Athletics to prevail on them to relax the visa requirements that botched the trip,” Olopade stated.

The Guardian recall that the Chinese authority denied World Athletics long jump silver medallist, Ese Brume and her coach Kayode Yahaya visa, which stopped them from participating in a Diamond League event last year despite meeting all requirements for the trip.