By G9ija
Coach Oluyomi Sule, an athletics consultant and former international athlete, has said that it will be difficult to stage a major athletic competition at the newly-built Awka stadium tracks due to fundamental technical errors.
Sule, who joined the chairman of Anambra Sports Development Commission, Patrick Onyedum, on an inspection of the stadium, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Awka on Sunday.
The athletics consultant said the Anambra government had good intention in constructing the tracks which had good quality but regretted that technical experts’ input were not sought, resulting in the errors.
He said the Awka stadium track was the biggest he had seen since his career which had spanned for about three decades.
“The contractor missed a lot of specifications; the state government did not have to spend so much money on a track that cannot be used internationally.
“The track is oversized, a lot of resources was wasted on that track but sadly, as it is right now, it cannot be used for international competition, nobody will approve it,” he said.
Sule said the dimensions were oversized with the straight measuring about 120 metres which implied that the curved track will start in the middle of the straight track.
Explaining further, he said that re-marking the track will not correct the error as it was laid around an already completed standard football pitch.
According to him, technically, it cannot be certified for serious competition but it is wonderful for training.
“The dimensions are oversized, we are supposed to have 400 metres made up of two straights and two curves but here the curves encroach into the straight lines.
“The track is about 475 metres and in a situation where you cannot get 100 metres on the curves and between 100 and 110 metres on the straights.
“The 100 meters begin from about 80 metres into the finish, the beginning of 400 metres is about 75 metres away from the finish line,” he said.
Sule said spaces and facilities were not put in place for field events including javelin, shotput, discus, horizontal jumps and others.
He said, “you cannot throw javelin there because the underlay will spoil the stick, no space for horizontal jump, however, that can be infused into what you gave there but, the area should have been mapped out from the outset.
“Now you have to break concrete, making it impossible to get the right dimensions but that can be hazardous to athletes.
“The stadium can best be described as a football stadium, the state government should think about how to build a track and field stadium somewhere else.
“I expected a project of that magnitude to enjoy a lot of expert advice,” he said.
