The second Nigeria School Sport Federation (NSSF)-organised trials for the 2023 World School Athletics Championships will begin in Abeokuta today.
The two-day trials will give NSSF opportunity to select its contingent for the 2023 World School Athletics Championships billed to hold in Turkey, as well as other International School Sports Federation (ISF) events.
Three categories, U-12 (primary), U-15 (junior secondary) and U-18 (senior secondary) will compete in 64 events at MKO Abiola Stadium. According to NSSF President, Olabisi Joseph, the decision to stage the championship was part of the federation’s resolve to give the event a more national outlook.
“The maiden edition was hosted in Lagos and we saw the outcome with the performance of Ronke Akanbi, who won the first gold medal for Nigeria at an ISF-organised event and we hope we can win more medals at this year’s event.
“We must thank Ogun State government for their decision to accept to host us and we are excited that we will be staging this year’s edition in the state that will host the next National Sports Festival.
“We are expecting students across the country to be part of the trials, because we want to give every Nigerian student the opportunity to make the team and we are hopeful that more athletes will turn up this year for the trials,” she said.
She urged states across the country to make their athletes available for the trials, saying this would afford them chance to compete nationally with their counterparts from other states.
“I am expecting states to release their athletes for the trials, because this is another chance for them to be part of the team to the world tournament outside the country. This is part of the education we are also promoting at NSSF by exposing the athletes to international competitions, as well as cultural exchange, which is one of the ideals of ISF,” she added.
