THE President of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Kalkaba Malboum, on May 25, announced that the African Athletics Championships would be hosted in Lagos, Nigeria.

This event was originally meant to be hosted by Algeria, but it was postponed owing to COVID-19 reasons. The games have been scheduled to hold from June 23 to 27, 2021.

The decision that Lagos will host the sporting event was made on May 24, after a meeting between CAA president and Nigeria’s Minister of Youths and Sports Development Sunday Dare in Cairo, Egypt.

The activities are set to take place at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, “with auxiliary support to be provided at the National stadium, Surulere and Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, both in Lagos,” the announcement read.

According to the CAA president, the African Athletics Championships was a unique opportunity for African athletes to get their ticket for Tokyo 2020.

He said that issues relating to the hosting of the African Athletics Championships in Nigeria had been deliberated on and modalities for a successful hosting, mapped out.

The CAA also promised that further details regarding the successful hosting of the championships in Lagos, Nigeria, would be made public.

READ ALSO: Nigerian human rights record slides under Buhari

The 2020 Summer Olympics, also known as the Tokyo 2020, is scheduled to hold from July 23  to August 8, 2021. The disparity in the dates was a conscious branding decision, after the games were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To enable African countries meet up with the Olympics qualification deadline, which was set for June 29, 2021, the African Athletic Championships was picked for Nigeria.

This is the second time Lagos is hosting the event, the first being in 1989. It is also the first time the event is hosted back to back by Nigeria, after the 21st edition was held in August 2018 in Asaba, Delta State.