Favour Ofili’s coach, Dennis Shaver, has insisted that the sprinter will not compete at the Athletics Federation of Nigeria’s Commonwealth Games Trials, which begin on Sunday (today) in Lagos, after she was allegedly entered in one of the sprint events, Sunday PUNCH reports.
Ofili has been at the centre of controversy in Nigerian athletics following a failed nationality switch to Qatar earlier this year.
The 23-year-old filed for a change of allegiance from Nigeria to the Gulf nation last year, citing the circumstances that caused her to miss the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the failure of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria and the Nigeria Olympic Committee to register her for the women’s 100m event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
However, her application was blocked by World Athletics over concerns about the implications for the integrity of international competition.
The decision has fuelled speculation that she could make a U-turn and represent Nigeria again, with some media outlets — though not The PUNCH — reporting that she had been registered for the Commonwealth Games Trials.
