Young sprinter Noel Sharrad has chosen Nigeria ahead of his fatherland, Iraq in the face of his ambition to partake in the Olympic Games.

Sharrad emerged the fastest athlete on the 100/200m tracks during the second edition of the Athletics In Sports Programme (AISP) which is infused into the 22nd Inter-house Sports of the Caleb International College, Magodo, Lagos State.

AISP is an initiative created for the sole aim of promoting Track and Field culture among Nigerian secondary school students and was first implemented in CMS Grammar School, Bariga coincidentally the first secondary school in Nigeria, and St. Finbarr’s College, Akoka.

It went on to produce Nigeria’s fastest and Africa’s second fastest hurdler, Oyeniyi Abejoye who is currently the athlete ambassador of the programme.

Sharrad, whose father is from Iraq said, “ Iraq’s sports is dead, they don’t even get to the Olympics in Athletics. So I’ll surely go for Nigeria.”

His mum is Nigerian.