MTN CHAMPS Continental Relays debuts in Lagos with entries
MTN CHAMPS Continental Relays debuts in Lagos with entries
Nigeria’s leading athletics meet, the MTN CHAMPS Continental Relays, made its long-awaited entry into Lagos in the third season on Wednesday, with an unprecedented number of entries across the cadet, youth, junior and senior categories.
Holding simultaneously at the Yabatech Sports Complex and the UNILAG Sports Centre, the Lagos edition will see 2,505 athletes and 155 secondary schools in 6,298 event entries from Wednesday to Saturday, April 12.
The registered athletes include 443 cadets, 824 youth, 610 juniors, and 628 seniors, with international representation from the Benin Republic, Togo and Ivory Coast.
At a press conference held on Tuesday ahead of the meet, MTN’s Chief Marketing Officer, Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, reiterated the telecommunications giant commitment to nation-building through sports.
“MTN CHAMPS is a platform that continues to grow, inspire, and transform the future of Athletics in Nigeria. At MTN, we’ve been committed to supporting the dreams and aspirations of Nigerians, not only through innovative solutions but also through active involvement in socially impactful initiatives and programmes. This is why we are actively involved in sports, especially football and athletics. In 2023, we launched the MTN CHAMPS with a clear vision to discover and nurture young athletic talents to build future Olympians for Nigeria,” she said.
“We have also discovered and selected 20 exceptional talents from different parts of Nigeria and they are here today where they are receiving coaching and training to represent Nigeria in future championships.”
Representing the founder of Making of Champions, Bambo Akani, MoC’s Country Manager, Deji Ogeyinbo, emphasised the country’s potential in athletics.
“At Making of Champions, we’ve made it a mandate to revive track and field in Nigeria. It’s our biggest sport judging by the medals we’ve won at the Olympics. Out of the 27 medals won in total, 14 are from athletics alone. We have the talent. How can we transition this talent to ensure that we win medals at the Olympic Games and the World Championships? We all love that Tobi Amusan did something great about three years ago at the World Championships where she broke the world record, and we need to be able to consistently replicate that.”
Director-General of the Lagos State Sports Commission, Lekan Fatodu, also stressed the unmatched opportunity that the state offers for the discovery of more athletics talents within the event’s age bracket.
Athletes in the cadet (U-14) and youth (U-17) categories will compete at the UNILAG Sports Centre from Wednesday to Friday before relocating to the Yabatech Sports Complex on Saturday while athletes in the junior (U-20) and senior categories will compete at the Yabatech Sports Complex throughout all four days of the competition.
The Continental Relays will also see six relays including the newly World Athletics-sanctioned Mixed 4x100m relay.
