Amusan Missing As AFN Releases World Championships List

Tobi Amusan, the world women’s 100m hurdles champion and record holder, was noticeably absent from Team Nigeria’s list of 26 competitors for the World Athletics Championships, which was issued on Tuesday by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria.

The list includes 11 male and 15 female participants for the championships, which will be held in Budapest, Hungary, from August 19 to 27.

Ese Brume, a silver medalist at last year’s championships, will aim for gold in Budapest. Ruth Usoro will compete with her in the long jump. Sade Olatoye (Hammer) and Chioma Onyekwere (Discuss) are two other notable women on the AFN list.

Usheoritshe Itshekiri, Favour Ashe, Seye Ogunlewe, Alaba Akintola, Fakorede Adekalu, and Anunagba Karlington will compete in the men’s 100m and relay races, while Rosemary Chukwuma, Favour Ofili, Faith Okwose, Justina Eyakpobeyan, and Success Umukoro will compete in the women’s 100m and relay.

While Nigeria has many medal contenders on the list, the AFN is still waiting for word on Amusan’s destiny.

The hurdler’s participation in the championship has been called into question when she was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit one month before the competition for failing three drug tests this season.

While the AIU also indicated that a hearing on her case would be held prior to the World Championships, she also vowed to fight the charges and prove her innocence, but nothing has been heard regarding the proceedings with only 10 days till this year’s championships.

The AFN’s Technical Director, Samuel Onikeku, told The PUNCH that only the AIU could provide an update on Amusan.

“We have perfected the list, and it has been released. But unfortunately, it is the AIU who can comment on Amusan’s case,” Onikeku told our correspondent.

However, sources at the AFN said Amusan’s name was included on the list sent to the World Athletics with the hope that the hurdler would be cleared to compete before the start of the championships.

“She is on the entry list sent to the World Athletics; they cannot remove it because AIU has not taken a decision on her. If they remove it now and they say she is free to compete, she might not be able to go again, so the best way is to leave her name there. If they say she is free to compete, fine, if she is not free to compete, they can remove it. But in the meantime, her name is on the entry list submitted to the World Athletics,” our source said.

Last year in Oregon, USA, the Nigerian made history by setting a new world record time of 12.12 seconds in the semi-finals before running 12.06 seconds in the final to win gold and become Nigeria’s first world champion and record holder in athletics.

Prior to her ban, the 26-year-old had been in excellent form, setting a new season’s best of 12.34 seconds in the Silesia Diamond League meeting in Poland in July to win her second consecutive race of the season, and she also won at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold in Hungary the same month.