Brume dreams African Youth Championships’ 100m, long jump gold medals

GLASGOW 2014 Commonwealth Games’ long jump gold medallist, Ese Brume, says she wants to add the gold medals in women 100 metres and long jump at the African Junior Athletics Championships, scheduled for Mauritius later in the year, to her trophy chest.

  Brume won the 100 metres women gold medal at the just concluded DR. D.K Olukoya Junior Athletics Championship held in Lagos, yet she is not satiated.

 “I am training very hard but I also have to be determined. I will focus on the 100 and 200 metres because it will aid me in my jump,” she stressed.

  Also speaking on his plans for the African Youth Championship, Divine Oduduru, winner of the 100 metres in the male category, promised to improve on his time before the World Junior Championship, All Africa Games and Africa Juniors. 

  He assured Nigeria of a gold in 100 and 200 metres race at the forthcoming Africa Championship in Ethiopia. 

   Just like Brume and Oduduru, Abolaji Omotayo, who won the 100 metres in the youth category, assured she would work harder to attain her target time of 11:04 or 11:05.

  Abolaji, who participated in the last World Junior Championship in Boston, USA and won in category B, said it is not easy to combine education and sport.

  “It is not easy combining the two because I have seen other athletes doing it and they say it is not easy. It is only when they finish that they come back to the field, so I will rest from sport when I gain admission,” she maintained.

  Over 600 athletes participated in the competition held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere. 

  The two-day event was a selection trial for the Africa Junior Championship taking place in Mauritius in March.

  According to AFN Technical Director, Nesiama Omatseye, said the committee has developed different strategies to managing the athletes based on the economy, adding that competitions will now be limited to those events that will help the athletes to improved performance.

“We will minimize number of competitions we involve in, so that we ensure that we carry out competitions that are very meaningful to the athletes, competitions that will focus them on performance so that at the right time, they will be kicking to enable them perform better than they do at the national trials,” he stressed.

  Omatseye was worried that the athletes did well at the national trials only to crumble in international competitions, saying that the situation compelled the AFN to change its programme this year.