New Africa's fastest man, Deji Aliu, has explained why the Nigerian 4x100 relay team, against all expectations, conceded the gold medal to Ghanaian team in the final decided last night inside the main bowl of the National Stadium, Abuja.
Speaking after the race with P.M. Sport, the former junior champion said the team lost the gold to technical deficiency of the starter, Aaron Egbele.
Aliu explained that the junior athlete was slow from the starting block, which the Ghanaian starter, Christian Nsiah, capitalised upon. Aliu and Uchenna Emedolu made a failed bid to correct the lapses, but the Ghanaian, Myles-Mills Leonard, was able to race home ahead of Aliu.
"I am not trying to give excuses or shift blame on anybody because we all took part in the loss, but if you look closely, you will see that Aaron had a bad start which made it difficult for us to catch up with the Ghanaians.
But this is sport, you win some and lose some, life goes on.
