Edo State Sports Commission’s Executive Director of Operation and Sports Development, Mrs Sabina Chikere has lauded the Edo State schools who participated at the just concluded MTN Champs Season 3 in Benin City.
The schools, numbering thirteen private and government-owned schools, participated in the Athletics Classics and inked their names in all available medals at the meet.
The Edo schools who participated in the meet and went home with laurels are New Era College, Benin Technical College, Idia College, Pame Group of Schools and Asoro Grammar School.
Others are Banmec Academy, Ogbe Secondary School, Osemwende Secondary School, Emotan College, The Lord’s Own Secondary School, Oredo Girls Grammar School, Eghosa Anglican Grammar School and NICOWA School.
Sabina, while commending the schools for their winnings, during a brief interview with Ayoola Adeleke of platinumnewsng.com on Saturday, March 22 morning, promised to keep monitoring the students’ sporting activities and join forces with the Chairman of the Sports Commission to ensure good policies and plans are in place to grow youth sports in the state.
“I followed their activities keenly during the competition, from the Uniben centre to the Ogbemudia centre, and I was happily counting their medals one by one as they were winning them.”
“In total, I counted 22 medals won by the schools and I want to commend especially Benin Technical College, Idia College and The Lord’s Own School for their stand-out performance at the MTN Champs.”
“It gives me joy to see these children do well for themselves and their schools, in all, the state is happy. We will continue to work hard and ensure that the right policies and plans are in place to enable their growth and development in the sports.”
“I believe that with this, we can rest assured that we have athletes who will compete for the state at the next National Youth Games — nevertheless, we will keep working hard.”
“I want to especially thank the school administrators and owners for creating enough room for these children to thrive in support — their efforts will surely be complemented.”
Sabina who represented the state’s Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Dennis Idahosa, at the event, also commended the MTN CHAMPS organizers and sponsors for their insight and execution in a program that has given thousands of athletes the required platform to excel in chosen careers and also given hope to the newly discovered talents.
“The organizers — Making of Champions — have done well with this kind of program, and the sponsor, MTN, wow, this is a huge investment, and I want to thank them.”
“I’m using this medium to call on other multinational companies to come up with another event, maybe baseball, volleyball, wrestling and other sports so that more talents can be discovered and more children taken out of the streets.”