Adeloye, Ifemosu secure Barcelona 2012 ticket at DK Olukoya Nigerian youth championships

Nigerian young athletes /Photo credit: Yomi Omogbeja

The duo of Tosin Adeloye and Dare Ifemosu were the star performers, with both bettering the IAAF World Juniors qualification standards, at the two-day 2nd AFN/D.K Olukoya National U-18 Athletics Championship which concluded at the Yaba College of Technology Sports Centre in Lagos on Saturday.

Adeloye from Ekiti State won the girls 200m and 400m double on the last day of the U-18 championships organised by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).

The 16-year-old talent took the 400m in a championships time of 53.46 seconds ahead of Chinonye Chukwu of Abia State (56.06) and Oluchi Offorma of GEJ Athletics Club (57.37). She had earlier ran 53.90 seconds in the semis.

Adeloye also won the girls 200m gold medal in 24.52 (+1.0) seconds ahead of Aderonke Ademosu (Buka Tiger) second in 25.03 seconds and Chinonye Chukwu (Abia State) third in 25.16 seconds.

Ifemosu won the boys 100m in 10.70 seconds ahead of Ekiti State's Yusuf Ismaila (10.92) and Tobi Akintomide (11.05) of DOAP Track Club on the opening day of the championships.

The Ogun state born athlete, who turns 17 on Wednesday, earlier ran an impressive 10.62 (+1.9) seconds in the semi-finals.

Ismaila, 16, who settled for silver in the 100m on the opening day, fiercely fought to win the 200m gold from Ifemosu in 22.24 seconds. The 100m metres champion settled for silver this time around in 22.29 seconds with Buka Tiger’s Akintoye Adeyemi (22.71) winning the bronze medal.

In the girls 100m, Margaret Bolufawi of Kwara State won a tightly contested race on the line from Nkem Ezealah of Lagos State (12.07 to 12.09 seconds). Doris Iwundu of Osheku Track Club took the bronze medal in 12.20 seconds.

The National U-18 Athletics championships was used as a selection trial for the Nigerian team to the 14th IAAF World Junior championships in Barcelona, Spain from July 10-15, 2012.

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