Team Nigeria was billed to compete in four events at the 2025 World Athletics Relays
The Chinese embassy in Nigeria has described the denial of visas to Nigerian athletes going for the 2025 World Athletics Relays as an “accident”.
According to NAN, Yang Jian Xing, the embassy’s culture counsellor, spoke during a diplomatic visit to the leadership of the National Sports Commission (NSC) on Tuesday.
On May 8, the NSC announced that Nigeria would miss the 2025 World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China, due to visa complications.
The commission said the Chinese consulate in Nigeria failed to issue visas to seven Nigerian athletes based in the US.
Advertisement
NSC added that the decision was due to China’s “hard policies against the USA”.
During his visit, Xing expressed the Chinese embassy’s “regret” over the episode, adding that “we are sorry.”
The envoy said the Chinese government “holds Nigeria in high esteem” and is “open to better collaboration with the National Sports Commission to boost diplomatic ties”
“Once again, I want to assure you that from next time we will try our best for this not to repeat itself again, and we would also like to create a special channel for China and Nigeria Sports communication,” he said.
The 2025 World Athletics Relays were held from May 10 to 12. Team Nigeria was billed to compete in four events: men’s, women’s, mixed 4x100m, and mixed 4x400m.
Advertisement
The top 14 countries in each event secured automatic qualification for relays at the World Athletics Championships in Japan later this year.
