10 Athletes To Bag Scholarship As MTN Champs Grand Finale Holds In Abuja

10 Athletes To Bag Scholarship As MTN Champs Grand Finale Holds In Abuja 

By Niyi Busari

The grand finale of the MTN Champs will commence from Friday, 1st and ends on Sunday, 3rd December, 2023 at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja where 10 winners will bag scholarship and financial benefits, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

MTN CHAMPS is a program in Nigeria that aims to unearth and foster athletics talent across the country. It is modeled after the Jamaican High school CHAMPS and is poised to become the primary platform for identifying and nurturing promising athletes who could go on to represent Nigeria in prestigious international competitions such as the Olympics and World Championships.

Before the finals in Abuja, the track and field event was held in three different regions namely: Uyo, Benin and Ibadan where over 7,000 athletes have competed and 42 finalists emerged.

Speaking at the MTN Champs Press Conference held on Wednesday in Abuja, the General Secretary of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Rita Mosindi appealed for the introduction of anti-doping lectures for the young athletes. 

" I want to appeal for the introduction of anti-doping lectures for the kids to educate them on the side effects of taking dope substances.

"These are raw talents that we can manage and nurture them to stardom.

"My advice is to do seminars concerning this just as we have started doing as a federation to reduce doping cases in Nigeria."

Bambo Akanni, founder and CEO of Making of Champions (MoC) who is the brain behind the MTN Champs revealed that 10 young athletes from the championship will get special scholarship in the USA and Jamaica.

"MTN Champs involving Secondary School Championship is to discover future Olympians for the country, building youth to excel in sports and academics. This is in line with MTN history of supporting local athletes for global aspirations.

He continued, "We've seen students in school and out of school students (teens from age 14 to under 20yrs of age) competing in series of track & field events across 3 regions in the country which are; Uyo, Ibadan and Benin.

After this regional events, the city Abuja will host the Grand Finale having all the finalists, (from the 3 regions there are 42 finalists on ground already).

"After Grand finale, 20 winners will emerge for the Making Of Champions academy while 10 winners will be given a special scholarship & financial benefits (some schools in the USA & Jamaica are ready to receive them)." He concluded.