By Ben Efe 18-7-2025
Quite a number of underaged athletes ineligible to compete at the CAA U-18/U-20 Championships, have lamented their ouster from the competition ongoing at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
World Athletics competitions rules prevent athletes who are less than 16 years from competing in either categories of the championships.
But some of the kids here all dressed up, but no event to compete, have bared their minds, expressing disappointment and urging the athletics governing body to review the rules.
Michelle Sebetlela, 14, from Botswana who runs the girls 400m said competing in Abeokuta could have done her athletics career development a world of good.
“I was looking forward to running my first international meet having won all races in the age group in Botswana, I’m the schools champion,” said Sebetlela whose personal best is 58.2secs
“Competing in Abeokuta could have given me more exposure and experience.”
Equally pained was Nigeria’s Treasure Omosivwe 15-years old high jumper with a personal best of 1.70m, which she achieved at the pre-championships trials. Her performance is a joint best this season in the U-18 category in Africa.
“Unfortunately the rules say I cannot compete and it hurts because I feel I can get the gold if I tried harder.
“This would have been my first international competition and it would have been good to compete with rest of Africa.”
She added that the rules are not fair for athletes like her who have talents.
“If at the Olympics they can allow 16 and below to compete, why can’t they also allow those youth athletes who have it to compete?”