A six-man Athletics delegation, ‘Team Athletics Liberia,’ has arrived in Asaba, Delta State to compete in this year’s African Athletics Championship.
The Liberian Athletics team comprising four athletes and two coaches arrived in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria on Monday, July 30, 2018 to represent the country in the 21st African Senior Athletics Championship.
US-based Liberian athletes Akeem Sirleaf, Wellington Zaza and Coach Sayon Cooper are said to have departed the US since Friday, whereas local athletes, Otricia Borkuah, Kadmiel Enders and Coach Bill Sheriff departed the country Sunday.
Akeem will participate in the 200m male sprint, while Wellington will do 110 meters hurdle male.
Otricia and Kedmiel will participate in the female and male high jump respectively.
The African Senior Athletics Championships is scheduled to be held from Wednesday – Sunday, August 1 – 5, 2018.
Presently, 25 countries have already registered and current breakdown indicates 473 male athletes have already been listed for the championships, while 400 female athletes have also registered for the track and field events at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba, Delta State.
Accordingly, about 205 accompanying officials and the athletes will be set for Africa’s flagship athletics competition. South Africa is the defending champion – having won the last two editions hosted in Marrakech, Morocco and Durban, South Africa. And the South Africans are already talking tough – as they seek to complete a hat-trick of titles in Asaba even though other countries, such as Nigeria, Kenya and Liberia are set for the Asaba’s chase.
Since the inception in 1979, 43 African countries have participated, and South Africa and Nigeria have each won the Championships eight times respectively, followed by Kenya, three times and Algeria, one time.
