1,500 Young Athletes Battle It Out at South-East U-16 Track and Field Championship!

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Events
• Goal of the Championship
• Remarks from Officials
• Conclusion

The competition for medals began at the Umuahia Stadium on Friday, as approximately 1,500 young athletes from Imo, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and the host state, Abia, started competing in the CLIMM South-East Under-16 Track and Field Championship.

The events featured include the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1,500m, relays, javelin, discus, long jump, triple jump, and shot put.

This athletics championship aims to discover new raw talents from the South-East and to prepare future international athletes for Nigeria.

During the flag-off ceremony, Lee Okoroafo, representing five former Nigerian athletes sponsoring the event, expressed concern that while the South-East dominated athletics in Nigeria during the 1980s and 1990s, the region is now “nowhere to be found.”

Okoroafo elaborated that his organization, CLIMM, is dedicated to nurturing new stars across various athletic disciplines, emphasizing that the initiative also aims to deter South-East youths from engaging in crime and other negative activities.

He further mentioned that many raw talents identified in previous editions are now competing for Nigerian and international athletic organizations. He expressed his gratitude to Governor Alex Otti for hosting the championship.

Earlier, the Abia State Director of Sports, Obioma George, encouraged the young athletes from the South-East to take advantage of this championship to become future sporting legends.

He also praised Governor Alex Otti for transforming Abia into “the new home of sports competitions.”