Nigeria’s Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare has agreed to step in to host the African Athletics Championships in Lagos.
Algeria had been due to host the event but had asked for a postponement due to the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic.
🚨BREAKING🚨
The CAA has officially announced that the African Athletics Championships will take place in Lagos, at the Teslim Balogun Stadium from June 23rd-27th.
The Championship was initially scheduled to take place in Algiers, Algeria but was postponed last month. pic.twitter.com/ywbLzMhayF
— Nigeria Athletics (@NGAthletix) May 25, 2021
Dare and the President of Confederation of African Athletics Kalkaba Malboum met in Cairo on Monday to discuss moving the championships to the Teslim Balogun stadium in Lagos.
Nigeria to Host for African Athletics Championships https://t.co/aVhuMB8EqH #Nigeria pic.twitter.com/Q3X9KWCbHz
— allAfrica.com (@allafrica) May 26, 2021
“The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and the Confederation of African Athletics are fully committed and working in synergy towards the delivery of a world-class Championships,” a joint statement read.
“In the coming days, more comprehensive details regarding the successful hosting of the Championships in Lagos, Nigeria will be made public.”
The biennial event had been delayed three times before Nigeria agreed to host the championships, which should have taken place in 2020 before being postponed by a year due to Covid-19.
The plan was to hold the championships in the Algerian city of Oran between the 1st and 5th June 2021 before it was then moved to Algiers and set to take place 22-26 June.
