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The second Nigeria School Sport Federation organised trials for the 2023 World School Athletics Championships will hold in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on January 18 and 19.
The two-day trials would afford NSSF the opportunity to select its contingent for the 2023 World School Athletics Championships taking place in Turkey as well as other International School Sports Federation events.
Three categories — U-12 (primary), U-15 (junior secondary) and U-18 (senior secondary) — will compete in 64 events at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta.
According to the President of the NSSF, Olabisi Joseph, the decision to stage the tournament was part of the federation’s resolve to give it 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,” she said.
“We must thank the 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, however, urged states to make their athletes available for the trials, saying it would afford them the 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 competition as well as a cultural exchange, which is one of the ideals of ISF,” she added.
