School festival: Anambra sports chairman warns against fielding over age persons

The Chairman of Anambra Sports Development Commission, Patrick-Estate Onyedum has called on principals and head teachers of schools to adhere strictly to the rules guiding the 2023 Anambra School Sports Festival. He warned them against fielding any over age person in the competition and to avoid creating a bad image for themselves. Onyedum gave the […]

The Chairman of Anambra Sports Development Commission, Patrick-Estate Onyedum has called on principals and head teachers of schools to adhere strictly to the rules guiding the 2023 Anambra School Sports Festival.

He warned them against fielding any over age person in the competition and to avoid creating a bad image for themselves.

Onyedum gave the warning yesterday ahead of Anambra School Sports Festival scheduled to hold between June 21 and June 24 in Awka.

Recall that the festival was grouped into U13 and U17 categories for students between primary five and senior secondary school two.

He said the school sports festival was a developmental programme geared towards repositioning Anambra as sports hub of Nigeria through discovering budding talents for mentorship.

He urged schools, which qualified for the finals to ensure their athletes were their students who fit within the age ranges as defaulters would not only be disqualified but the named.

“However, I want to remind school principals and headteachers to warn their game masters to adhere to the rules, they should resist the temptations of presenting overage athletes.

“Any school with proven cases of age cheating will be exposed, this festival is a long-term development programme, so the sports commission is discouraging the ‘must win mentality’ exhibited by some schools, that is what is responsible for age cheat,” he said.