Nigeria’s shot putter, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi will be making his IAAF Diamond League debut at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Thursday, Sportinglife.ng reports.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medalist will be the first male Nigerian athlete since Tosin Oke in 2016 to compete on a Diamond League circuit. He will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games if he throws 21.10m and above in Rome.
The America-based shot putter ranked 14th in the world, broke the shot put national record at the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge at the Estádio do Centro Nacional de Desenvolvimento do Atletismo, São Paulo, Brazil in April.
The 26-year-old produced a throw of 21.77m to clinch gold at the 35th Grande Prêmio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo to beat the previous national record of 21.76m set by Stephen Mozia at the Grand Prix in Czech Republic three years ago.
Enekwechi won the shot put title at the African championships in Asaba last year and was selected to represent Africa at the Ostrava Continental Cup.
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He won both the shot put and hammer throw events at the 19th National Sports Festival in Abuja, where he threw 20.36m to set a new festival record in shot put.