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OKAGBARE, ODUDURU ANXIOUSLY AWAIT APPEAL OUTCOME

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It has been a nervy wait by the duo of Blessing Okagbare and Divine Oduduru as they await the outcome of their appeals. Both have been thrown out of the competition having breached the rules governing withdrawal from an event.

Both withdrew from the 100m in order to conserve strength for the 200m. But as the the third day of competition at the world track championships gets underway, the Nigeria’s sprinters are in a race against time.

It was gathered that the IAAF, revealed  that NCAA champion Divine Oduduru has filed an appeal against his pre-emptive disqualification from the men’s 200 meters, just hours before the heats begin.

There’s also an appeal from Blessing Okagbare, who wants to run the women’s 200 starting Monday.

The IAAF disqualified them from the 200 and 4×100 relays after they were entered for the 100 but didn’t race. Okagbare said the Nigerian track federation entered her and Oduduru for the 100 even though they didn’t plan to run it.

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The women’s 100 final is later Sunday. The men’s triple jump, women’s pole vault, women’s 20-kilometer race walk and the new 4×400 mixed relay are also decided Sunday.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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