Asaba 2018: LOC moves to ensure hitch-free departure for athletes

In its bid to avoid the embarrassment that welcomed the 2018 African Senior Athletics Championships in Asaba, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) has made proper arrangement as regards movement.

Some setbacks had surrounded the kick off of the event on Wednesday when over 300 athletes from Kenya, Cameroon and other African nations were left stranded at the Lagos domestic airport, with no planes to take them to the Delta capital.

Frustrated, one or two federations threatened to return to their athletes home, before organizers stepped up and made provision for a flight that transported all the stranded athletes in batches from Lagos to Asaba on Wednesday morning.

During a press conference on the Day 2 of the competition held to address some of the concerns of participating teams, Chairman of the LOC, Solomon Ogba, accepted all blames and asked for tolerance.

He explained that the hitches were as a result of late submission of travel schedule by some of the participating nations, but stated that his committee have made adequate plans ahead of the departure from Asaba after the games.

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Ogba said: “I apologise for the shortcomings that have been experienced at this championship. We are not trying to blame anybody and we accept all shortcomings.

“Teams were supposed to provide their travel schedules to the LOC two days before arrival but many countries failed to do that and it affected our plans. All the athletes are here now and we were able to appeal to the technical committee to adjust the programme to capture every athlete at the event.

“To ensure that there is a free movement out of Asaba, we have made plans for six planes to leave Asaba on August 6 (a day after the championship). However, that is dependent on the departure schedules sent to us by the federations, and their deadline for submission is today (Thursday),” he stated.

Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) President Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, who was also in attendance at the press conference, said: “On the transfer of the athletes from Lagos to Asaba I apologise to the athletes.

“The plan, according to the information available to me, was for the aircraft to leave Lagos for Asaba immediately the athletes arrived. But for some technical reasons – weather and others – the plan failed and the LOC had to seek alternative ways of achieving the goal.”

He added, “We must be tolerant; we must understand the situation and show our commitment and support. Lagos was supposed to host this championship. When I came for the Access Bank Marathon, I met the governor and we spoke about it. However, when they were supposed to come and collect the flag during the last African Championships in Durban, they didn’t come. We found the solution in Asaba because we wanted to keep the event in Nigeria, and now we have this beautiful stadium.”

The competition continues on Friday, and will come to an end on Sunday.

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