Osei-Nketia waiting for call from Razor
New Zealand’s fastest man has controversially missed selection for the Tokyo Olympics and now says he’s waiting on a phone call from Scott Robertson.
Sprinting sensation Eddie OseiNketia hit out at the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) over his non-selection for Tokyo last week, alongside fellow sprinter Zoe Hobbs.
Osei-Nketia, 20, said ‘‘it sucks and it’s unfair’’ of the decision.
NZOC did not see either Osei- Nketia or Hobbs being capable of a top 16 placing in Tokyo despite Osei-Nketia being eligible for selection due to world rankings and regional performances. He was outside the automatic qualification standard of 10.05 seconds for the
100m.
But the man who has a personal best of 10.12 seconds – set earlier this year in Brisbane – and just behind his father, Gus Nketia’s, all-time New Zealand record of
10.11, appears to already be looking at a potential career change.
The Crusaders have already undertaken ‘‘preliminary discussions’’ with Osei-Nketia’s management, according to RugbyPass.
Osei-Nketia was a rugby and track star at St Edmund’s College in Australia before moving to New Zealand to align with the black singlet and attend Scots College’s in Wellington.
‘‘Last week, my manager told me that the Crusaders were actually keen on me and he said that Scott Robertson wanted to have a chat with me,’’ Osei-Nketia said.
‘‘I haven’t heard from him yet, but I’m assuming he’s a busy guy. I
haven’t heard anything, yet, from anyone else.’’
It’s not the first time OseiNketia has attracted the attention of professional rugby setups in New Zealand.
He has previously visited the New Zealand sevens camp and New Zealand Rugby confirmed to Stuff it was interested in OseiNketia back in 2019.
‘‘I can confirm Eddie’s management team reached out to the Crusaders about his desire, having missed out on Olympic selection, to pursue a professional career in rugby,’’ a Crusaders’ spokesperson told RugbyPass.
‘‘These were preliminary discussions to explore what opportunities and pathways are available to Eddie, to fulfil his athletic potential within a highperformance rugby environment.
‘‘However, these conversations have not extended to the possibility of bringing Eddie to the Crusaders, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to comment further,’’ the spokesperson said.