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.