Young athletes from across the 36 states of the federation will converge at the Teslim Balogun Stadium between February 6 and 7 as the fifth edition of the D.K. Olukoya Youth and Junior Athletics Championships takes off in Lagos, thereby kick-starting Track and Field activities within the country.
This year’s edition of the championship is expected to take a two-in-one format as athletes will compete in U-18 and U-20 categories respectively. The competition will serve as national trials for two continental championships this year, namely the African Junior Championships slated to hold from March 4 to 8 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the African Youth Championships in Mauritius taking place from April 23 to 26.
The event , which is being sponsored by the General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM) Ministries, Dr D.K Olukoya, has grown to become the country’s No.1 junior athletics championships, and has led to the discovery of several young stars that have gone on to win medals both continentally and globally.
For instance, Ese Brume who is the reigning African Junior Champion, went on to become 2014 National, Commonwealth and African Senior Champion in the Long Jump. Also, Divine Oduduru, another product of the championship, became a Silver medallist in the 200m at the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships in Oregon, and emerged the fastest man in Nigeria over the distance in 2014.
Chukwudi Olisakwe of Delta State won the 100m at last year’s edition of the U-18 Championships. He returned a time of 11.14s and was followed by Ekiti’s Ismaila Yusuf (11.23s) and Kenechukwu Iloakaebunam (11.25s).
The girls’ category was won by Aniekeme Alphonsus Etim from Akwa-Ibom in 12.32secs. Delta’s Favour Ekezie came second with 12.42secs while Abolaji Omotayo (Kwara) followed with 12.57secs.
Technical Manager of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and National Record Holder in the Long Jump, Yusuf Alli disclosed that he expects tough competition from junior athletes from Kwara, Delta and Cross- River states respectively.
He said, “These states have been consistent in producing young athletes in the past few years; I expect athletes from these regions to dominate the sprints, jumps, quarter- mile and hurdles”.
A number of school athletes at the on-going Lagos Secondary School Festival tagged ‘Ibile Games’ are also expected to compete at the two-day event.
Will love to b a participant