MTN CHAMPS school athletics kicks off in Edo

Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City has become the centre of attention as the inaugural edition of MTN CHAMPS, kicks off on Thursday, as about 1000 athletes from 80 schools/teams expected to participate in the three days competition.

The competition which started on Thursday in Benin and it’s expected to climax on Saturday is spread across three age brackets: the Cadets (U-14), Youth (U-17) and Juniors (U-20).

According to the organisers, 32 team titles are expected to be won across the four centres of Edo, Uyo, Ibadan and Abuja, with eight in each as MTN CHAMPS will run a team-based competition with team titles and trophies awarded to the best Boys’ & Girls’ Schools/Teams in each age category.

Speaking during a press conference held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium before the commencement of the competition, Chairman, Edo State Sports Commission, Yussuf Alli, expressed the readiness of state towards hosting the first leg of the MTN CHAMPS.

He commended the communication giant for supporting the competition, which according to him would unearth future champions for Nigeria.

He said: “when I heard about this initiative, I was happy, because this is what we’ve been looking for, to partner with anything that has to do with schools.

“Having 7000 athletes participate in this programme nationwide in huge, and I will appeal that a database is kept of all participants in order to curb age-cheating”, he said

in his address, Deji Aliu, MoC’s Head Coach and Nationwide Meet Director for MTN CHAMPS, said that the competition would provide the participants with more alternatives to compete, as opposed to having only one age group, which the athletes would all struggle to compete under.

“MoC is known for quality; we’ve done it before and we are going to do it better with the backing of MTN. We’ve been able to produce national champions in three years, and now with MTN coming in, we’re going to do ten times better than before.”

“One of the structures that has been put in place to curb age cheating, is the introduction of three different age categories (Cadet, Youth & Junior). The championship is going to give a lot of kids a platform to showcase their God-given talents.

Earlier in his welcome address, Mr. Oluseye Odunsi, revealed that the aim of the competition is to bring out future champions who will participate in the Olympics, World Championships and other events across the world.

“The top 10 athletes from this programme will join the MTN Academy where they will be trained and educated, and also be presented with the opportunity of scholarships both from Jamaica and the US”, he said

He noted that outside Benin City, the competition would be held also in Uyo, Ibadan and Abuja, adding that the MTN CHAMPS is an initiative to drive educational development among the youth.