LAGOS – The President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Solomon Ogba, has urged zonal representatives on the board of the federation to organise grassroots talent-hunt competitions in their areas.
A statement by the spokesman of the federation, Kayode Thomas, said Ogba urged them to emulate the North-Central Zonal representative, Tunde Abdulkareem Agbaji, who regularly organised the North-Central Athletics championships.
According to the statement, the event holds at the Main bowl of the Ilorin Township Stadium.
It said that Agbaji, the Vice-President of the association, also sponsors the Kwara State All Secondary Athletics Championships, as an annual event.
The statement quotes Ogba as saying: “we have a corps of young talents that have the potential to become world beaters in the next two or three seasons, but there are still many others across the country waiting to be identified.
“It is only through competitions like that that we can discover these hidden talents. I therefore urge my colleagues on the board, zonal representatives and stakeholders across the country, to regularly organise talent-hunt competitions, to discover new talents’’.
It noted that with the establishment of the Athletics High Performance Centre at the University of Port Harcourt, discovered athletes could be sent to there to have access to specialised training, in their early ages.
The statement noted that the talents would still continue their education at the University, with facilities for all categories of students.
It said Ogba urged schools across the country to revive the culture of inter-house sports as “learning is incomplete without physical exercise.
“We must give our children the opportunity to put their God-given talents to use,’’ it quotes Ogba as saying. (NAN)
