Recall that the quartet of Patience Okon, Imaobong Uko, Favour Ofili, and  Knowledge Omovoh ran a Season Best (SB) of 3:26.83 at the recently concluded Lagos State Athletics Open held at the Teslim Balogun stadium.

It was gathered that technical officials failed to place cones on the appropriate lane marks, which is against the technical rules after the video was sent to World Athletics governing body showing lapses and they had to reverse Team Nigeria qualification status for the event.

The first vice-president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Sunday Adeleye under the leadership of Ibrahim Shehu Gusau, while reacting, said the disqualification of Team Nigeria for the world showpiece has taken the country’s athletics backward.

“This is where professionalism comes in when people who are supposed to be at the helm of affairs were not allowed to do their job, Nigeria should have qualified for the event with ease if we were allowed to attend the World Relays in Poland.

“The disqualification has taken athletics backward in Nigeria, but we just have to stay focused and concentrate on what we have now and see what God will do for Nigeria amidst all the distractions in the AFN going into the Olympic Games.

However, concerning the report about the women’s 4x400m team being disqualified from competing in Tokyo, the quartet of Okon, Uko, Ofili, and Omovoh will still compete at the Olympics.

Okon and Ofili will fly the country flag in the 400m and 200m respectively, while Imaobong, Knowledge, and  Patience are to be selected in the mixed 4x400m event.