The kick off the 21st African Athletics Championships was delayed on Wednesday after hundreds of athletes were stranded at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport waiting to get a connecting flights to Asaba.
The CAA, organizers of the competition said in Asaba that organisational issues were the reason for the change in schedules.
The championships will hold at the newly-completed Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, between August 1st and 5th.
Some of the athletes who could not get a flight to Asaba were billed to take part in the postponed events on Wednesday.
“Due to some organisational problems, it was decided to cancel Day 1 events of the competition’s programme except for round one of the 100m events and women’s and the 10,000m final event.
“The rest of the programme will be rescheduled to fit into the remaining four days,’’ the CAA said in a statement.
Reacting to the ugly incidence, one team coach said, calling the scenes at Lagos’ international airport “totally chaotic.”
“People were exchanging blows, people were pushing and shoving to try and get a seat on the plane,” Zimbabwe coach Lisimati Phakamile told The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, the Head of Media and Publicity of the competition, Olukayode Thomas, said that the last batch of athletes for the African Senior Athletics Championships had arrived in Asaba ahead of the opening ceremony.
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“Leading the last set of athletes to the Delta State Capital was former world champion in the Javelin, Julius Yego.
“Yego, who came in with Team Kenya, said they were happy to finally be on the ground to compete with the rest of the continent.
“While admitting that the past days had been hectic for Team Kenya and some few other countries, Yego, who is one of the top names at this year’s championships, said they would have to catch their breath fast and get ready for action.
“The Kenyan promised that in spite of the glitches in their travel schedule, the team remained resolute in their plan to conquer the continent in Asaba,’’ Thomas said.
The leader of Team Kenya, Peter Mutai, told newsmen on arrival at the Asaba Airport, that the team had got behind them their delayed travel to Asaba and were now focused on winning as many medals as possible.
“We are glad we are here now; as I said when we came for the DRM meeting, we are coming to win as many medals as possible.
“In spite of the hiccups here and there which of course happens, especially with the number of people coming into Nigeria at the same time, we are still focused on taking all the medals,” Mutai said.
The remaining batches of athletes from Egypt, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and South Sudan among others also arrived on Wednesday.
“It’s not being rude … it’s being real. Nigeria is a poor, poor country,” Nicholas Bett, Kenya’s 400-meter hurdles world champion in 2015, wrote on his official Facebook page.
The stranded athletes included South Africa’s Olympic 800-meter champion Caster Semenya and long jump world champion Luvo Manyonga. The South African team spent three days in Lagos.
Moroccan high jumper Rhizlane Siba, the 2014 African champion, said she and her teammates were also stranded for three days and claimed they were given little help by organizers.
“We slept the first night at the airport. And then we slept the second night at the hotel,” she said in a video posted on Twitter on Tuesday. “They claimed that we had a flight coming today. We’ve spent the whole day in the airport waiting for a flight but when some of the Nigerian team came in, they took our spots and went to Asaba. We are stranded in Lagos. We haven’t trained for three days, and we haven’t eaten properly in two days.”
Phakamile, the Zimbabwe coach, said only one small plane was made available by organizers to take the hundreds of athletes arriving in Lagos to Asaba. The plane was making 3-4 trips back and forth per day, he said, but it still wasn’t enough. Together, the Kenya and South Africa teams brought nearly 200 athletes and officials.
“I’d never seen such poor logistical arrangement,” Phakamile said.
Officials at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria said they were not responsible for the problems and it was a matter for airlines and the championships organizers.
