Relief for Kenyan athletes after forced layover of several hours in Nigerian airport
After being stuck in Lagos, Nigeria, for close to 48 hours due to lack of connecting flights, the final group of Kenyan athletes finally departed for Asaba on Wednesday morning.
The Kenyan athletes have endured a frustrating stay in the Western African nation, where they will be competing in the 2018 Africa Senior Athletics Championships, due to poor organisation which has seriously hampered the start of the five-day competition.
The athletes arrived in Lagos on Monday evening where they were expected to connect to the competition city, Asaba, almost 500km away from the capital.
Flight to Asaba at last. This was very bad situation #Nigeria pic.twitter.com/kEdRFqlAKF
— Timothy Cheruiyot (@tim_cheruiyot) August 1, 2018
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But a crippling delay in connecting flights saw hundreds of athletes stranded at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, as they awaited special charters to Asaba, some 500km.
Kenya, Congo and South Africa have just landed at the Asaba Airport.
Officials have said we are expecting three more batches which should have all 200+ athletes and officials.
The Championships will now commence at 3pm local time (14:00 GMT)#Asaba2018 pic.twitter.com/R7pXd2iq2X
— Janine Anthony (@Chiquadiva) August 1, 2018
Organisational disarray has been worsened by reports of an overhaul of the programme, prompted by the late arrival of teams.
“Unconfirmed reports last nights claimed that the Moroccan team had withdrawn from the championships due to the poor organization with Athletics Kenya (AK) President Jack Tuwei saying the competition delegate seemed to have given up altogether,” Daily Nation Sports Editor, Elias Makori, who is covering the event in Asaba, reported for the daily newspaper on Wednesday.
The 2018 Africa Senior Athletics Championships scheduled to commence on Wednesday afternoon.