Chairman of the Edo State Sports Commission, Desmond Enabulele, has pledged to work in obedience to the mandate that the Commission was given by the state governor to go to the grassroots to scout for young talents in sports.
He made the pledge on Thursday at a Press Parley held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, while offering a word of encouragement to Bright Osayi Samuel, the sponsor of the annual Bright Osayi Samuel under 13 football tournament.
Enabulele asserted that the Bright Osayi Samuel Under 13 tournament is the type of tournament that the governor is talking about and he will do all in his power to support the sponsors in keeping up with the Governor’s commandment.
In his submission, the Chairman of the Edo Football Association (EFA), Fred Newton, stated that the tournament whose first edition in 2024 has the full backing of the family of the sponsor, which include his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Osayi.
He disclosed that the maiden edition of the tourney, which was won by Dynamo Academical, was a huge success as lots of talents were discovered some of whom are now in the national under 17 team.
He disclosed that this year’s edition of the tournament, which commences on 12th May, is the second in the series and promises to be a thriller as some array of awards ranging from trophy for best behaved team; trophy for Most Valuable Player award; trophy for best defender; trophy for best goalkeeper etc amongst many.
Also to be honoured are Man of the Match(one per match) while N1m will go to the winner of the tourney; N750,000 will be offered to the runnersup and N500,000 will be given to the second runnersup.
Representative of the sponsor’s family, Michael Osaro, revealed that the Fenerbache star is so happy that the maiden edition last year was successful and thus he promised to go further by setting up a football academy in Edo State if he secures the state government’s support in acquiring a plot of land to erect a structure for the football academy.
