Nigeria’s hope of having a Referee officiate at the 2018 African Nations Championship has been dashed after Ferdinand Udoh picked up an injury during a five-day assessment exercise in Egypt.
Udoh revealed he “pulled a muscle” during the 40m sprint of the practical session per brila.net sources.
The 30-year-old arbiter was named among 44 officials who are in Egypt for a five-day training programme to select the match officials for the CHAN 2018 final tournament.
The course, from 27 November to 1 December 2017, has in attendance prospective match officials from 35 Member Associations.
Also, the two-part seminar; theoretical sessions which include topics such as technical and tactical analysis of the game, reviewing of video clips of matches amongst others and practical sessions with players, was held at the Technical Centre of the Egyptian Football Association.
A disappointed Udoh described the situation thus:
“Am sorry, I won’t join the train to CHAN as one of the Referees any more as I could not make the fitness test.
“I pulled a muscle during 40m sprint, had only 75m to complete the race but my leg could not carry it. My apologies.”
Udoh, who is arguably Nigeria’s top match official, has been receiving treatment in Egypt.
