Ministry of Sports Awards Scholarship to Two Athletes from Anambra

Ministry of Sports Awards Scholarship to Two Athletes from Anambra

By Niyi Busari

As part of the resolve of the Minister of Youth and Sports Development Mr. Sunday Dare to unearth hidden talents across the country in order to grow and nurture them to take over from the older ones at the right time and as a fallout of last year's National Youth Games held in Ilorin, Kwara State, where some talented athletes were spotted for possible national assignment, two athletes of Anambra origin have been awarded sports scholarship by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

The scholarship which was birthed as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the Ministry under the leadership of the Minister, Mr. Sunday Dare with Nigerian Tulip International Colleges (NTIC) in October of 2019, worth N2.6 Million naira, is to see some of the athletes further their education while still engaging in sports.

Anambra State at the competition last year, had a large contingent and some of its athletes were selected. Four out of the twenty athletes nominated for the scholarship programme from Anambra in company of their Coach, Mr. Akachukwu Igwebuike, a two-time Gold Medalist in Javelin at International level, where put through physical and practical trials as well as oral screening after which two of the athletes out of the four nominated, made the final cut for the scholarship award. The two athletes are as follows:

(1) Dike Innocent Mmaduabuchi (Long Jump and High Jump)

(2) Shehu Gabriel Chidera (Shotput and Discus)

It is worthy of note that during the course of the screening programme, over 240 footballers were nominated for the scholarship programme and three footballers of Anambra descent made the final list of which the captain of Team Anambra at the 5th National Youth Games, Master Okafor Chinaza Anthony was amongst the lucky recipients.