Nigeria’s Bello Ayomide and Otuedo Beauty, have picked up automatic qualification ticket to the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris for Canoeing event in the C2 W 500 category.
The Nigerian pair who paddled in lane three, finished tops ahead of their counterparts from Mozambique, Egypt & Senegal, to clinch the automatic ticket in the all African qualifiers.
The week long African qualifers for the olympics ended Saturday with 16 countries participating & only 6 slots available for grabs.
President of the Nigerian Canoeing, Rowing & Sailing Federation, Admiral Festus Pobeni assured Nigerians that the country’s athletes will finish on the podium in Paris next year.
“Everything in life is about management. You manage life, you manage wealth, you manage poverty as well as fame. And in this case, we have all the talents and resource but the management is what we aspire to improve better.
“For instance, we had our boats at the ports and for eleven years it was difficult clearing them because there was struggle between the customs service & other Agencies until we came on board to ease some of those challenges.”
“And it was then we were able to win our first silver medal at the AAG but my concern now is that we as a country must focus more on training of athletes which i believe if we do that, we will surely finish on the podiums in Paris 2024, eventhough am not sure of the colours.”
Admiral Pobeni also appealed to the President Bola Tinubu led administration to prevail on the relevant Agencies like the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority to always provide the necessary support that will facilitate the development of watersports in Nigeria.
Abuja, Nigeria is hosting the 2024 Olympic qualifiers for the first time, and President of the international Canoe federation Thomas Konietzko, believes the choice of Abuja has been worthwhile following successful hosting of the event.
“And so am really satisfied WITH the confitions here and i think it’s same feeling for the athletes but am surprised with the high level of performance of African athletes bc u can realise that more and more countries are competing for olympics qualification places which is a significant progress and huge development for the continent.”
Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Mozambique, Senegal, Kenya, and Angola are among the sixteen countries in the Olympic qualifiers.
