The Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, has encouraged Tobi Amusan, Ese Brume and other Nigerian athletes at the 2023 World Athletics Championship not to be discouraged but immediately recover from their disappointing outing at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
The minister gave the charge shortly after Tobi Amusan finished sixth in a time of 12.56 seconds to surrender her world 100m hurdles title to Jamaica’s Danielle Williams who first emerged world champion in 2015.
Before Thursday night’s disappointment, last year’s bronze medalist in long jump, Ese Brume, had failed to appear on the podium in Budapest.
And on Thursday, Favour Ofili and Alaba Akintola both lost in the women’s and men’s 200m semifinals event respectively.
Abuja newspapers distributors get new excos
Benue majority leader denies sponsoring ‘fake news’ against SGF
“We still stand take pride in Tobi Amusan even though it wasn’t the result we wanted. With all of the circumstances of the last few weeks, she still showed why she is highly rated,” said the Minister of Sports.
“The same can be said for Ese Brume, Favour Ofili, Alaba Akintola, Chioma Onyekwere, Sade Olatoye and all other Nigerian athletes that participated in the championship.
“I urged them all to use the experience from Budapest as another learning curve and take pride in the fact they competed favourably at that level. As we learn the lessons from Budapest, we will work towards better appearances in the future,” he concluded.
Amusan still holds the world record in the women’s 100m hurdles, while Favour Ofili remains the African indoor record holder in the women’s 200m and Alaba Akintola, Commonwealth Bronze medallist.
