All is set for nearly 800 Athletes to battle for superiority at the fourth leg and Grand Final of MTN CHAMPS 2023.
The championship will hold from 1st to 3rd December 2023 at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja.
A press conference was held in Abuja on Wednesday, 29th November 2023, to herald the highly anticipated event. It had in attendance MTN’s Chief Marketing Officer – Adia Sowho; MTN’s Acting General Manager, North West Region – Fasa Obazenu and MTN’s Sponsorship Manager – Njide Ken-Odogwu.
Others are MoC Founder – Bambo Akani; MoC Chairman – Engr. Olu Akani; Secretary General of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) – Rita Mosindi, Treasurer of the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) – Dr. Oba Funsho Usman, and former men’s 400m National Champion and MoC Athlete Emmanuel Ojeli, who is one of the CHAMPS Ambassadors.
Also, the 42 MVPs (Most Valuable Performers) selected across the first three locations of CHAMPS (Benin, Uyo, and Ibadan) and sponsored for the Abuja Grand Final were in attendance.
MTN CHAMPS: Partnership and Vision Align
Meanwhile, in her opening address, MTN’s Sowho expressed her pleasure at the level of competition on display across the first three legs of CHAMPS and is looking forward to an exciting climax.
She said: “It’s the finale week for MTN CHAMPS and it’s been a very exciting few weeks going to different parts of the country to experience Athletics, competition and a lot of national pride and energy from Nigeria’s youth. This has been such an exciting partnership for MTN; we’ve gotten all that we bargained for and then some, and I applaud Bambo Akani’s vision and the Making of Champions (MoC) team. We’re also very grateful to the thousands of young persons that showed up across all the events; we witnessed all of their joy, excitement and competitive spirit, and we’re really excited for this finale week.”
MTN CHAMPS 2023 Final: The Journey
“This has been a journey that started about 10 years ago for Making of Champions when we saw a gap in Nigeria and needed something to fill that gap. What’s interesting is that we went to Jamaica in 2013 (during their CHAMPS) and filmed a documentary on Nigeria’s history at the Olympics, and what we saw there convinced us that this needed to happen in Nigeria. These athletes here have been on a journey for the last two months and we have been on this journey for 10 years. Now, MTN has answered the prayers of all athletes in Nigeria by showing that Athletics has value in Nigeria.
“The numbers we’ve recorded across the previous legs show that MTN has touched on something. they’ve touched on the hunger for competition, and the performance of the athletes has been unprecedented; the quality and quantity of athletes at MTN CHAMPS is something we’ve never seen in Nigeria. We must a big thank you to MTN for making all of this possible. This is a game-changer in Nigerian sports, in school sports history in Nigeria, and I think this is going to be the most powerful game-changer for sports and nation-building in Nigeria.”
The AFN Verdict
Meanwhile, giving her address, AFN’s Mosindi appreciated the support of MTN in providing a competition of this caliber which has helped to curb the menace of age-cheating by providing three different age categories for the athletes to compete in (Cadet, Youth, and Junior). She also appealed to the organizers to incorporate anti-doping campaigns in the course of the competition to sensitize the athletes to the harmful effects of doping.
Furthermore, NSSF’s Usman is confident that the athletes will deliver impressive performances during the competition, starting Friday.
“Nigerian students are talented and well endowed in sports if given the opportunity”, he said. “That opportunity is what MTN is giving to these Nigerian children. By the end of this championship, a lot of future Olympians would have been discovered. We want to thank MTN for providing this big platform for Nigerian children, and I want to believe that this will not be in vain. When the story of the kids in sports, especially in Athletics is told, we will always remember MTN, MoC, and all that have played a significant role in this feat.”