By Mmaduabuchi Onwumelu
1976 World Cup winning school, Christ the king College, Onitsha and Modebe Secondary Onitsha, will lead other schools from Onitsha South Council Area to the zonal finals of the 2025 ANSSI Competition.
The two schools booked their places in the zonal finals in the U-14 and U- 18 categories of male football.
In athletics, all the schools that took part qualified in various races which include 60m, 100m, 150m, etc.
The primary school pupils participated in the U-12 athletics events of 60m, 150m, 300m and 4×100m Relay, and in Long Jump and high jump field events. They also featured in U-14 events of Long Jump, High Jump, Short Put, 4×100m Relay, 4×100m Mixed Relay and others.
Central Primary School, Fegge, emerged the overall winners, while Zik Avenue Primary School came second.
Helen Ezeadim, the Coordinator of Onitsha South, commended the Anambra State Government for offering youths the opportunity to develop themselves in sports from the grassroots.
‘I thank God for the wonderful opportunity given to the kids to showcase their talents. We have harnessed a lot of talents in school sports, to God be the glory,’ she said.
She enumerated the challenges facing them to include lack of financial support from the council chairman, poor officiating, inadequate equipment and shortness of time to start and conclude competitions.
Master Choice Eze, a 12-year-old primary 6 pupil of Central School, Fegge, who won the 100m U-12 boys, said he looked forward to combining education with sports.
‘I want to be like the world iconic athlete, Usain Bolt. He is my role model in life,’ he said.
From Nnewi South Council Area, Union Secondary School will lead the other schools to the zonal finals, having clinched the first position in the U-18 Male Football. They will be joined by Ukpor High School that came first in the U-18 Female Category.
From the results in other events, it shows that Nnewi South will put up a very good performance in other sporting events like Volleyball, Basketball, etc., zonal finals.
Two schools, Uncle Ralph De Great Academy and St. Paul Academy, will lead the onslaught from Awka North as both teams defeated their opponents from Ebenebe.
According to Raphael Okafor, a member the MOC, the athletics event was inconclusive because one NATO official who was to officiate the athletic event had an accident on her way to the venue.
Marist Comprehensive College, Nteje, will represent Oyi Council Area in Basketball, as Community Secondary School, Nkwelle-Ezunaka and
New Era Secondary, School, Nteje, will also represent in the Football event during the zonal finals.
In athletics and other sports, the LGA is poised to put up a good fight to make sure they qualify for the finals.
As at the time of this report, the information from other Council Areas indicated that the zonal finals would be tough as all the Local Council Areas had put in a lot in spite of all the challenges.
However, the revived schools sports competition with glaring challenges, have dampened the enthusiasm of these pupils, students and officials, who have been looking forward to showcasing their hidden talents.
It will be recalled that the competition which is in its third edition, commenced in March 2025 at the community level in all the 21 Local Government Areas of the State. Altogether there are eleven sporting events including athletics, ncho, Basketball, Chess, Cricket, Football, Scrabble, Swimming, Table Tennis, taekwando and Volleyball for boys and girls in three age categories of U-12, U-14 and U-18.
