Team Nigeria has missed out on the women’s 4x400m relay for the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics which will hold from July 26 to August 11, despite winning the gold medal and finishing ahead of the rest of the field in the final of the Africa Senior Athletics Championship in Cameroon.

The women’s 4×400 was the remaining relay ticket to the Paris Olympics which saw the quartet of Ella Onojuvwevwo, Patience Okon-George, Esther Elo Joseph and Omolara Ogunmakinju, clocking a time of 3:27.31 on Wednesday night but it was not enough to get them the ticket to Paris.

Nigeria needed to run faster than 3:26.08 to topple Cuba and qualify for the Olympics but they still defeated Botswana and Zambia who were second and third respectively to win the gold.

The women’s 4x100m relay is the only only other relay race Nigeria has failed to qualify for having picked the other four tickets during the World Relays in the Bahamas in May.

The absence of the team in the Bahamas was hinged on visa issues for some of the athletes, including Patience Okon-George, while the 2023 African Games sensational anchor leg Omolara Ogunmakinju was sidelined by injury.

With just three days to the end of the qualifying window, the hopes of the quartet making to Paris seem to have faded.

Meanwhile, the men’s 4×400 team made up of Emmanuel Ojeli, Sikiru Adeyemi, Dubem Nwachukwu and Samuel Ogazi, also missed out on the podium in their final at the African Championships, finishing fourth in a time of 3:02.93 behind Zambia, Kenya and Botswana, though they had already qualified for the Olympics in the Bahamas.

Reports coming from Italy suggest that Napoli is set to lower the price tag on Victor Osimhen’s buy-out clause from £100 million pounds to £85 million as clubs which had hitherto showed interest in the Nigerian forward have been foot-dragging and unwilling to meet the asking price.

According to Calcio Mercato, Napoli still haven’t received any concrete offers for the striker, and are now willing to listen to proposals in the region of around £85m instead of the initial £100m release clause as they look to cash in on the striker this summer.

The 25-year-old forward who has one year remaining on his contract with the Italian club, has been strongly linked with a move away from the 2022/23 Serie A champions this summer with the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, PSG and Bayern Munich making initial contact but with the high transfer fee, the clubs have been forced to look elsewhere as the transfer window opens at the end of the month.

Napoli, on the other hand, are reportedly ready to lower that initial valuation of the player in the hope that they can free up much-needed transfer funds for new boss Antonio Conte.

Another Italian tabloid, La Repubblica reports that Napoli may be willing bring down their initial asking price in a bid to get Osimhen off its wage bill.

“Napoli wouldn’t mind a technical counterpart to lower the “cash” and make a high-level capital gain. The English side’s moves will be closely monitored; it’s probably Osimhen’s last chance to perform in the Premier League.”