The sports complex of the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos has adorned a festive toga following the arrival of the teams billed for the national finals of the maiden Maltina School Games.
More champions are expected to emerge today as the national finals of the Maltina School Games end at the Sports Complex of the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos.
As predicted, it has been a keenly-contested atmosphere, as the best athletes from the various state finals have been strutting their stuff; showing so much promise they have what it takes to be world-beaters.
In the 200m Senior Boys event, Marvellous Chukwuka of Government Secondary School, Karu lived up to the billing as the fastest pupil from across the state finals as he emerged first with a time of 22.29 seconds, which is an improvement on his 23.60 seconds winning time from the Abuja zone.
John Benedict, also from the Federal Capital, and Kalu Benjamin from Lagos settled for the second and third spots respectively
In the 200 Junior Boys category, Mustapha Emmanuel and Lodi Emmanuel from Lagos claimed the first and second positions, while Dauda Mubarak from the FCT made it to the podium, finishing in the third position.
In the girls’ category, Lagos won both the Junior and Senior 200m events.
The Maltina School Games is a new intervention in School Sports by the country’s number one family drink from the stable of Nigeria Breweries PLC.
It involves a series of track and field sporting competitions held pan-Nigeria, as an inter-school sports competition to grow future sports champions in secondary schools across Nigeria.
According to the organisers, outstanding athletes from the Maltina School Games will get a chance to represent Nigeria at international competitions across the world and that could mark a big turnaround in becoming world-acclaimed stars in their respective fields.
Over 20 million children have been impacted in this maiden edition of the Maltina School Games, which many describe as a new chapter in sports development in Nigeria.
