Akerele was the revelation at the just concluded Nigeria University (NUGA) Games, where his three gold medals rescued the University of Benin (Uniben). In fact, Akerele ran a new personal best (PB) in the 400m in addition to his three gold medals. And like the scenario at the Stade Germain Comarmond Stadium in Mauritius last August, the young lad left the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), venue of the NUGA Games, a star athlete last week. He was full of smile, posting in different photographs with athletes and officials from other Universities at the end of the 400m. Before his journey to Mauritius last August, Akerele was in Team Nigeria’s U-17 team to the World Youth Athletics Championship in Ukraine. He made a great impact at that championship, running a personal best (PB) time of 47.23 seconds in the 400m. He was moved to the U-20 squad for the 11th African Junior Athletics in Mauritius and many felt it was a ‘wasted’ ticket. But he was able to prove the doubting Thomas wrong. At the NUGA Games in Ife, Akerele was in Uniben’s gold winning relay 4x100m team as well as the 4x400m, but the joy of many spectators was the way and manner he captured his individual gold in the 400m. “The NUGA Games was my first race this year,” the ever-smiling Akerele told The Guardian during the week. “I have been working hard since my last competition in Mauritius and the NUGA Games was a chance to see how far I have come in my preparation for the challenges ahead of me this year,” he said. Akerele is the son of a professor at the university of Benin. He is a student of political science in the institution. After ‘jogging’ to the finish line in the semifinal of the 400m, which he won at 48.19 seconds, Akerele felt he could do better in the final. “I felt I could go a lot faster in the finals, so, I approached the final with so much confidence. Though the opposition was much, but there was that optimism in me that I was going to run well. What I needed was to execute my race plan and thank God I did it in grand style. I was full of smile when I crossed the finish line at 46.70 seconds, which is a new personal best,” Akerele stated. The university of Benin captured six gold medals to place sixth position on the overall medals table and five of the gold medals came from athletics alone. The sixth gold came from the game of Taekwondo. The university of Port Harcourt came first with 63 gold, followed by Unilag (14 gold). The host institution (OAU) was third with 13 gold, just as Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria was fourth with nine gold medals. While Akerele won the 400m gold in a time of 46.70 seconds, his compatriot from Uniben, Oshasha Simon was second in 47.45 seconds, while Charles Ebelebe of Bayero university, Kano was third in 47.61 seconds. “I was satisfied with my performance in Ife. The athletics season is still early and there is still a lot of training to be done. I pray to be injury free and I am looking forward to running faster races, so that I can meet my set target. “Last season, my target was a 46 second, so to start the season with a personal best time of 46.70 seconds means I am on the right track. By God’s grace, by the time we have the Commonwealth Games trials in Calabar in June, my target is to be in shape for 46.01 seconds. I am actually aiming for a 45.8 in the 400m and I am sure it is very possible this season,” Akerele said. In Mauritius last year, Nigeria’s hope of winning the championship was on the boy’s 4x400m team after the South Africans and Ethiopians increased their pressure on Team Nigeria on the medals table. Midway into the 4x400m final, the Nigerian quartet found itself playing second fiddle to Kenya and Gambia after the third leg runner, Ugbochukwu Ottah, failed to maintain the tempo Adedamola Adeniyi and Charles Okezie had started with. But a resilient Akerele came to the rescue with a big fight on the final lap, when he chased down the Gambian athlete, Tijan Keita at the 200m curves to narrow the gap. Keita was the African youth champion at that time. With much determined push at the home stretch, Akerele changed gear overwhelming the Gambian in the process of negotiating the curve. In a manner reminiscent of the great come back by Innocent Egbunike at Nairobi ’87 All African Games in Kenya, the entire stadium was in uproar, as Akerele anchored at 3.14.50 to win the race. He became an instant hero and was carried shoulder high by Team Nigeria’s officials round the stadium. Even his opponents came to congratulate him soon after the race for his doggedness and never-say-die attitude. He told The Guardian soon after that fate in Mauritius last year that his main target in athletics is to break Innocent Egbunike’s record in 400m, which has remained untouched since 1987. After winning the three gold medals and setting a new personal best at the NUGA Games in Ife last week, Akerele declared once again that he won’t stop until he achieve his desire in athletics. “Breaking Egbunike’s record is topmost in my mind. It is my major aim in athletics. I will do everything humanly possible to break the record. It will happen one day. “I know that breaking Egbunike’s record means I have to put in extra efforts. I am ready for the challenges ahead of me. All I need from the federal government is more competitions and sponsorship to international events. I want to say that the little experience I got at the World Youth Championship in Ukraine and the African Junior Championship in Mauritius last year added to my performance at the NUGA Games,” Akerele said. In his youth days, Egbunike made big headlines setting many records in athletics. He was a bronze medalist in the 4x400m relay at Los Angeles ’84 Olympic Games, but one of his heroic moments in Africa was in the 400m title at the 1987 All-Africa Games in Kenya, where he beat homeboy, David Kltur in a dramatic final watched by the country’s president, Daniel Arap Moi. Egbunike had a personal best of 10.15 seconds in the 100 metres in 1984, 20.42 seconds in the 200m in 1983 and 44.17 seconds in the 400 metres in 1987. To the young Akerele, that record of 44.17 seconds set by Egbunike in far back 1987 has stayed too long in Nigeria’s athletics and it is time to break it. Apart from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Akerele is one of the athletes Nigeria is banking on for medals at the IAAF World Junior Championship in Eugene, USA, as well as the ECOWAS Games holding in Ivory Coast August. There is also the Intercontinental Athletics Cup competition scheduled for Marrakech, Morocco later this year.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Mar 2014 16:19:35 +0000
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