By Samuel Ahmadu 

Hopes for Nigeria's participation in the 2025 World Athletics Relays have been revived following the last-minute approval of visas for the country’s US-based athletes by the Chinese Embassy in the United States.

This development comes hours after the Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Hon. Bukola Olopade, disclosed that Nigeria would miss the global meet due to visa denials affecting seven US-based athletes—despite all preparations being completed on time by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).

In an update released late Thursday, Olopade confirmed that the visa situation had been resolved and that the athletes’ passports were now in the custody of the AFN Performance Director in the U.S.

“The race is now on to see if we can get all of them to take off from Los Angeles in time. Fingers crossed,” he said.

Olopade earlier clarified that the AFN followed all due processes and received funding approval from the NSC as early as February/March. He criticized World Athletics and the host nation, China, for failing to ensure an efficient visa process for participating countries.

The AFN has already filed a petition with World Athletics, urging the body to grant Nigeria a qualification pass should logistical challenges prevent timely arrival at the event venue in Guangzhou.

With the visas now secured, attention shifts to the urgent travel arrangements needed to get the athletes to China before the competition begins.