By Praise Chinecherem
No fewer than 2,000 students across the 21 Local Government Areas of Anambra state are set to compete in the state finals of the State School Sports Festival slated for June 21 and June 24, 2023.
The finalists who emerged after scaling through the community, local government and zonal elimination stages would take part in the finals of the 10 competitive events that would be staged in six venues in Awka, the state capital.
Recall that the festival tagged First Solution School Sports Festival started on May 17 with community preliminaries.
Chairman of Anambra Sports Development Commission, Patrick-Estate Onyedum, after a meeting of the Main Organising Committee and Local Government Sports Officers on Friday, commended all field men for their commitment to excellence.
Describing level of competition among the students as high and expository, Onyedum said preparations were on top gear for a thrilling finals and closing ceremony, calling on the schools, parents and sports lovers to grace the various venues and entertain themselves with the best of grassroots sports.
He said, “We started out with about 17,000 students from 610 about a month ago but I am glad to inform you that after the various levels of elimination, we have about 2,000 state finalists in this festival.
“I want to commend my sports officers at the Local Government Areas, Games Masters and Coordinators who managed the process with diligence and commitment to produce these finalists.
“The students showed raw and rare talents, the festival has been competitive and the spirit is high because they have longed for it, that is why we can not thank our governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo enough.”
Onyedum added that local and foreign scouts were already in the state identifying budding talents, assuring that exceptional talents would be harvested and placed on close mentorship where they would develop their talents and pursue their studies.
According to the schedule released by the MOC, venues for the various events are, football, Government Technical College and Paul University football pitch; Swimming, Marble Arch Hotel and Tennis, Cheese and Scramble, City Sports Club all in Awka .
Others are Volleyball, Basketball, Taekwondo and Cricket would be at the Alex Ekwueme Square while the Awka Township Stadium would host Athletics and the final football match.
The grand finale of the festival on June 24 will kickoff with the Olympic Day Run celebration at 7 am.
