Still basking in the euphoria of competing at her first ever Commonwealth Games Trials where she reached the final of the women’s 100m, Shell-sponsored Chiamaka Egbochinam extended her impressive performance to her school’s inter-house sports competition which was held on February 20th, at the Tesim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.
The Making of Champions (MoC) athlete was one of the standout performers at Princeton College’s Inter-House Sports competition where she struck GOLD in four events namely the 100m, 200m, 400m and 4x100m.
The 2017 National Youth Games (NYG) Bronze medallist won all her races in emphatic style, even while taking things quite easy, clocking 11.9s, 26.7s and 64.3s in 100m, 200m and 400m respectively (hand-timing). She then anchored Red House to victory in the 4x100m in 61.3s, and was eventually crowned the joint Best Female Athlete for her four GOLD medals.
Making of Champions Founder/CEO Bambo Akani, who was a Special Guest of Honour at the event, believes that Egbochinam’s exposure to elite competitions, aided her performance at the inter-house sports event.
He said: “It was really enjoyable spending the day at Princeton’s inter-house sports – Chiamaka just got back from the Commonwealth Games Trials in Abuja where she reached the final running against senior athletes in Nigeria, so at this school level, it’s really just about her helping Red House in her school win overall, which they did.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank to Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) for awarding her the Scholarship over a year ago to complete her secondary school education in Lagos while training with Olympic Medallist Deji Aliu at MoC Track Club after school hours.
“Shell’s Scholarship allowed her to move from Onitsha to Princeton College in Lagos, who have been a fantastic partner school for us at MoC – we hope that in time with the help of more sponsors, we will be able to send more young athletes to Princeton and other schools that can help them achieve their dreams of getting an education while training to represent Nigeria at the highest level!”
The Principal of Princeton College, Mr. Sylvester Obiakor who was very pleased with 17-year old Egbochinam’s performance, has expressed an interest in MoC introducing more of their student to elite training, which may be a possibility, as MoC may soon invite their 2 best male and 2 best female athletes (asides Egbochinam) for Trials at MoC Track Club!
