Nigerian athletes Nicole Denby and Amaechi Cristian Cuevas Morton were among the winners at the 4th Warri Relays/Golden League meet held at the Warri Township Stadium, Warri, Delta State on Friday.
[link id=”435″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Amaechi Morton” target=”_blank”], who is based in the US, won the men’s 400m Hurdles event in 49.39 seconds ahead of Eric Alejandro of Puerto-Rico (49.93) with Henry Okorie of the Nigeria Customs third in 51.82.
Nicole Denby outpaced her fierce rival Ugonna Ndu (13.63-13.74) to win the women’s 100m Hurdles. Both athletes say they are happy with their triumph in the one-day track meet.
Speaking with AthleticsAfrica in Warri after their wins, both athletes stated that the victory at the[link id=”169″ tax=”post_tag” text=” CAA Grand Prix”] event is just a preamble of what to expect from them at the All Nigeria Championships (national trials) in Calabar next week.
“I was here last year but I didn’t win, I am glad I did now even though I am not too impressed with my time, I hope to improve on that when I get to Calabar next week,” Nicole told AthleticsAfrica.
On his part Amaechi Morton said he was happy to be back home to compete having been away for close to two years.
“It’s always a good feeling to compete back at home and winning gives it a better feel, like I usually say, my target is to get better with each race that I run. I see myself doing better in Calabar because the goal remains to make the Nigeria team to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next month,” said Morton.
In other men’s events, Samson Idiata won the long jump and Tosin Oke took the triple jump after achieving distances of 7.81m and 16.46m respectively.
Idiata, making a return to sport after long layoff, told AthleticsAfrica that his tortuous journey from his base in Valencia, Spain limited his performance in the [link id=”168″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Warri Relays”] and promised to do much more in Calabar on Thursday.
Tosin Oke, on his part, said he would be ready to talk after he has competed – hopefully better – in Calabar. The All Nigeria/CRS Athletics Championships takes place at the UJ. Esuene Stadium in Calabar, Cross River State from June, 19-22, 2014.
Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) officials have confirmed that the national trials would be used to select the Nigerian athletics team to the 2014 [link id=”242″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Commonwealth Games” target=”_blank”] as well as the [link id=”244″ tax=”am_event_categories” text=”Africa Championships in Marrakesh, Morocco.” target=”_blank”]
Selected Results
4 x 100m Women (Nigeria vs World)
- Nigeria ‘A’ 44.88
- Nigeria Jnr. 45.13
- Cross Rivers 45.25
- N S C D C 45.39
- Customs 45.48
4 x 100m Men (GL) Nigeria vs World
- Nigeria ‘A’ 39.28
- Police 39.51
- Gambia 39.94
- Nigeria Jnr. 40.06
- Nigeria ‘B’ 41.14
4 x 400m Women (Nigeria vs World)
- NSCDC 3:32.22
- Botswana 3:37.26
- Nigeria Jnr 3:37.68
4 x 400m Men (GL) Nigeria vs World
- Nigeria ‘A’ 3:05.92
- Botswana 3:05.95
- Nigeria Jnr. 3:06.21
- C.D.A 3:09.21
- Customs 3:09.91
- Gambia 3:10.44
- Lagos 3:16.74
View Full Results
FULL RESULTS – 4th Warri Relays – CAA Grand Prix 2014
Meet The Authors
Mr Eludini is a Nigerian-based journalist and news researcher with a passion for athletics and football. Tunde is a staff reporter for Premium Times newspaper, and also a regular contributor to AthleticsAfrica.
