The CLIMM South-East Under-16 Track and Field Championship began on Friday at Umuahia Stadium, with over 1,500 young athletes from Imo, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and host state Abia vying for gold.
The events include the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, relays, javelin, discus, long jump, triple leap, and shot put.
The athletics championship, which intends to find fresh raw talents in the South-East, will also prepare future international athletes for Nigeria.
At the flag-off ceremony, Lee Okoroafo, who represented the five former Nigerian athletes financing the tournament, remarked that, while the South-East dominated Nigerian athletics in the 1980s and 1990s, it is now “nowhere to be found.”
Okoroafo added that his group, CLIMM, is dedicated to developing new stars in various athletic disciplines, and that the project also aims to deter South-East youngsters from indulging in criminal and deviant behaviour.
He further mentioned that some promising athletes discovered in past editions are now competing for Nigerian and worldwide sporting organisations. He thanked Governor Alex Otti for hosting the championship.
Earlier, Obioma George, the Abia State Director of Sports, pushed the South-East’s youthful athletes to grab the championship opportunity and become future athletic giants.
He also praised Gov. Alex Otti for making Abia “the new home of sports competitions.”