Libyan athletes train in Nigeria ahead of African Championships

A couple of talented Libyan athletes are in Nigeria for warm-weather preparations ahead of the 17th African Senior Athletics Championships scheduled for Nairobi, Kenya this summer.

Former Nigerian coach, now head coach of the Libya Amateur Athletic Federation, Tony Osheku, returned to Nigeria last weekend with some of his athletes for specialised training and some competition in the West African country.

The athletes with Osheku will train in Abuja for the period they will be in the country and include: 400m runners Mohamed Ashour Khouaja - who is their national record holder in the 400 metres with 45.35 seconds and Mohammed Ibrahim; 800m runner Abubakar Gataroni and 1500m runner Khalid Jedah.

Osheku, who has been in Libya since November 2009, told the media on arrival that the Libya athletics governing body had also concluded arrangements to take the athletes to Europe in June for the final phase of their preparations.

"The whole arrangement seems like magic to me. It is only in the USA and Europe that I have seen this kind of planning. I didn‘t know this also exists in Africa," he said.