Image of students participating in the International School Athletics Championship at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos State.

916 Students Compete At International Athletics Championship In Lagos

Last updated Mar 16, 2022

A total of 916 students from 53 schools across Nigeria are participating in the International School Athletics Championship which commenced on Tuesday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos State.

The organiser, Enefiok Obong, said that the competition would be an annual event which would be included in the Lagos State Sports Commission calendar.

Obong, a former athletics Olympian, said that talent was best developed at young age. He added that exposing the discovered talents would give them an edge over their counterparts.

Nigeria’s quartet of Enefiok Udo Obong, Clement Chukwu, Jude Monye and Sunday Bada won Silver in the Men’s 4x400m event at the Sydney 2000 Olympics

“Talent is found at the young age, but a lot of times, they do not have enough exposure,” Obong said. “By exposing them, competing among their colleagues outside the country won’t be new to them since they already have the experience of competing at school age.”

“We decided to start from school sport so that we can get the raw talent to compete at the higher level, competitive level.”

Obong also stated that discovering talents at the grassroots level was yielding positive results towards the development of athletics in the country.

“Our grassroots are doing very well. When we are talking about grassroots we are talking about the local government level and the school level,” Obong added.

“Between the learning age and developmental age, that is a good place to start. They need more and more activities, competitions to develop their confidence, develop their courage, expose them. That is the best thing to get in order to get future champions.”

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Adesoye Kehinde, representing Oreyo Secondary School, Ikorodu in the 100m U-17 girls, said that the championship was a good development for her career. She added that she would do her best to emerge winner from her category.

Also speaking, Efekpo Vwegba, representing College of Commerce, Warri, Delta in 100m U- 17 boys category, said that participating in the tournament would help him develop himself more. He noted that though he came first in the first run, he believed he could do better.

The tournament which started on Tuesday March 16th, will end on Saturday, March 19th.

Chidi Nwoke/NAN.