29th September, 2019
Divine Oduduru returned to the starting line on Sunday for the 200 meters at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, after he won his appeal against disqualification.
Blessing Okagbare will also be at the starting line for the same race tomorrow.
Both athletes got a reprieve from the IAAF on Sunday after their initial disqualification for not showing up during the 100 metres race.
Okagbare told The Associated Press that track’s governing body, the IAAF, has approved the appeal from the two Nigerians and reinstated them into the meet after a paperwork mix-up led to their being disqualified.
Oduduru took part in one of the heats in the 200metres and has qualified for the next round on Monday.
Nigeria’s track federation had entered both runners in the 100-meter races, even though neither intended to compete at that distance. When they didn’t show up, IAAF rules called for them to be disqualified from the rest of the meet, including their main events, the 200, and the 4×100 relays.
But after learning more about the mix-up, an IAAF appeals panel reinstated them.
Oduduru, the NCAA champion out of Texas Tech, is scheduled to race later Sunday. Okagbare is the 2013 bronze medalist at 200 meters, and is scheduled to race in preliminaries on Monday.