Ahead of the 2021 Olympics, the Making of Champions Limited (MoCs) says it is ready to host the all-five Olympic Relay events (Men’s & Women’s 4x100m and Men’s, Women’s & Mixed 4x4x00m).
The Founder of MoC, Bambo Akani, made the disclosure on Friday in Lagos during a virtual conference.
Akani said that the event, sponsored by the Payments and Mobile Money Company, Paga, would take place on Sunday at Yaba College of Technology, Lagos.
“Following the great success of previous Olympic qualifying competitions, the Paga/MoC Relays seek to enable relay and individual athletes from Nigeria and Africa qualify for the Olympics.
“This partnership comes at a timely fashion for Nigerian athletics, especially after the much anticipated African Championships initially slated for the end of June in Nigeria was cancelled, putting the Olympic qualification for Nigeria’s five Relay Teams in jeopardy.
“At the Paga/MoC Relays, all five Olympic Relay Events (Men’s & Women’s 4x100m and Men’s, Women’s and Mixed 4x4x00m) will be featured, giving Team Nigeria’s five Relay Teams and indeed other national relay teams across Africa one final big opportunity to snap up the final qualification.
“Already, athletes/teams from 10 different countries across Africa (including Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Benin, Togo, Cameroon and of course Nigeria) have already indicated interest in participating at the event,” he said.
Akani said that in spite of the none qualification of the male athletes, he was optimistic that Nigeria would register her name on the medal table at the Olympics with the current form of the female athletes.
He said the crises that rocked the Athletic Federation of Nigeria(AFN) affected the preparation of athletes and athletic sports generally, adding however, that AFN and Ministry of Youths and Sports have supported MoC events.
A representative of Paga, Daniel Oparison, said that they were sponsoring MoC relays to give young athletes the opportunity to reach for the stars.
“Our very essence is making life possible as the lives of many athletes have been on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So, it is very impressive to say that MoC has gathered these athletes from at least 10 countries in Africa to make their dreams come true.
“We at Paga are definitely rooting for the Nigeria team that qualified to bring back some medals. Our sponsorship is timely and will benefit the athletes,” Oparison said.
