Sports
MTN Schools’ Athletics Championships Set To Debut
All is now set for the maiden MTN Schools’ Athletics Championships tagged MTN CHAMPS, which is aimed at transforming school sports with four centres hosting the first edition across the country.
The tournament is the brainchild of Making of Champions (MoC) in collaboration with the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) with technical support from the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) will take place in the Southern, Eastern, Western and Northern parts of the country from this month to next month.
In a statement issued by the Main organizing Committee, MoC, over 7,000 athletes from 500 Schools across the four events, with each centre hosting the three-day Championships, in Benin, Uyo, Ibadan and Abuja for the inaugural season while the grand final will take place in Abuja where the best athletes discovered from each zone will converge for the finale.
According to the MoC, the ultimate goal of the MTN CHAMPS is to re-ignite grassroots athletics talent search across Nigeria to discover and develop the athletes that will deliver global medals and become future sporting legends for the nation.
To this end, the grand prize of season one will be full one-year sponsorships for 10 athletes discovered at MTN CHAMPS to join MoC Athletics Academy in Lagos, which MTN is supporting as Lead Sponsor in 2024, to enable the best talents discovered earn college or high school scholarships in US or Jamaica, and to train for a chance to represent Nigeria at future global competitions.
Over 1,800 athletes are expected to compete at the three-day tournament in each centre with Benin centre kick-starting the championships on October 12. The Abuja grand finale will be held on December 2.
Among the events to contest for include 100m, 100mhurdle, 200m, 400m, 4x100m, 800m, shot put, discus, long jump, triple jump, high jump.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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