Okagbare Leads Nigeria’s 23-Man Team

Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor tops the list of 23 athletes selected by the Athletic Federation of Nigeria for the IAAF World Championship in Beijing,China from August 22-30.
 Okagbare,26,the reigning Commonwealth double sprint queen will feature in 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay events.
She won a silver and bronze at the last edition in Moscow, Russia two years ago in the 200m and the long jump.
With a 10.80 seconds personal season's best in the 100m,Okagbare is tipped to make history as the first Nigerian,man opr woman to win a blue ribband medal at the flagship of IAAF events. Also listed are Gloria Asumnu, Stephanie Kalu, Deborah Odeyemi, Cecilia Francis and Ngozi Onwumere for Nigeria’s 4x100m event.
For the 400m and 4x400m, Patience Okon George, Regina George, Tosin Adeloye, Margaret Etim, Funke Oladoye and Ruth Ossai are listed.
Delta girl, Ese Brumeh who won a long jump gold medal for Nigeria at the last Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, is to also listed to see if she could  emulate her mentor, Okagbare in the long jump pit in Beijing albeit hr form has been rather indifferent this season. 
Doreen Amata has her another chance at the Worlds again with her inclusion on the list for the women’s high jump.
Amaka Ogoegbunam (400m Hurdles), Lindsay Weyimi Lindsey (100m Hurdles), Chinwe Okoro (Discus) and Uhunoma Naomi Osazuwa (Hepthatlon) completed the list of 18 women on the Team Nigeria list for the Worlds.
The five male athletes listed for the Worlds in Beijing include; Ogho-Oghene Egwero (100m), Peter Tega Odele (200m), Tyron Atkins (110m Hurdles), Miles Ukaoma (400m Hurdles) and former Commonwealth Games triple jump champion, Tosin Oke.
Former American Olympic sprint gold medalist, Maurice Greene, Gabriel Okon, Yusuf Alli and  Solomon Aliyu are part of the consortium of coaches for Team Nigeria at the Championships.