Lord’s Own Academy came out tops at the finals of the 5th Eyoto Athletics Competition that climaxed on Friday at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium with participants and stakeholders commending the event’s focus on grassroots talent development and strict adherence to the Under-15 age limit.
The Lord’s Own Academy dominated the competition’s final on Friday winning six gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal. Behind them were Asoro Grammar School with 2 Gold and 2 Silver medals and Ogbe Secondary School securing 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze, as second and third placed schools respectively.
The three top schools were also awarded cash prizes of N200,000; N100,000 one and N100,000 respectively. The individual winners of the various events were awarded cash prizes of N25,000 for the winners, while N15,000 and N10,000 were given to the second and third-placed winners respectively. In addition, the top 10 athletes of the competition as a directive from the President of the Federation, Bola Ahmed Tinubu were rewarded with a sum of N100,000 with N25,000 to be paid to them quarterly with conditions that they continue on the path of education, come out with excellent grades and win competitions.
Earlier, in an interview, Oluyemi Ayopo, Director of the Eyoto Athletics Competition, outlined the tournament’s vision, stating, “We are running a grassroots program; precisely, that is why we attached U-15 to the competition so that we can have them young.”
He further explained, “From there we can take it to the next level. Some of the athletes we have seen in this competition so far are those we are now using for our U-15 competition for the state. Those who have overgrown the underage competition are the ones we recommend for schools and universities in Benin and outside Benin. Eyoto Athletics Competition has been helping a lot to get grassroots athletes in Edo State and beyond.”
On the rigorous screening process to ensure fairplay, Ayopo said: “The screening has been good so far. The officials have been using facial looks and NIN to certify that they are still under the age of 15 because the competition is strictly for U-15. For the categories, we have 100m, 200m, 800m, 1500m, and Long Jump. We also have about six relay races altogether.”
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