Nigerian sprinter Favour Ashe has opened up on the difficult times he experienced at the just-concluded African Championships in Athletics in Ghana, which he believes prevented him from winning an individual medal at the event, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Ashe missed out on the podium in the men’s 100m final but won silver in the men’s 4x100m relay at the championship.
His journey in the men’s 100m event was far from smooth, as he bounced back from a disqualification in the heats before qualifying for the semi-finals via a solo run.
The 24-year-old missed out on a medal in the final, which was won by Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme. South Africa’s Bradley Nkoana claimed silver, while Ashe’s compatriot, Chidera Ezeakor, took bronze.
Ashe had set his sights on gold in the event but revealed his plans were thwarted by incidents on and off the track.
“For my personal experience, I will rate the championships a five. My spike got missing before my 100m semi-finals and my bibs got missing,” Ashe told Making of Champions.
“Also, the false start in the 100m heats took my confidence from 10 to four because we ran the race and I expected them to say we should run again, but they gave me a red card. We had to appeal before I was allowed to come back for the solo race. That was when my spike got missing and I had to look for a bigger spike to run the solo race. Mentally, I was stressed. That wasn’t a good one for me, knowing that I would run the semis and the final the following day.”
Despite his disappointment in the individual event, Ashe led Nigeria’s 4x100m relay team to a second-place finish.
The quartet of Ashe, James Emmanuel, Tejiri Godwin and Ezeakor crossed the line in 38.70s ahead of Ghana but were beaten to gold by Ivory Coast, who won in 38.52s.
“When it comes to the 4x100m, I always want to give my best. I knew I had to set the pace with the first leg and everybody did their job, but I just saw Ivory Coast coming from lane one to win,” Ashe added.
Before the African Championships, Ashe had also helped Nigeria qualify for the mixed 4x100m relay at the next World Championships during the World Relays in Botswana.
He returned to the Nigerian fold last month after reports linked him with an allegiance switch to Qatar, though he has maintained that he remains focused on representing Nigeria.
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