From Everest Ezihe – Owerri
As part of her social responsibilities for the promotion and advancement of sporting activities, Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, Imo State Chapter in collaboration with Senator Samdaddy Anyanwu has advanced plans to host the State Secondary Schools Table Tennis Championship.
The event which is the first of it kind in the State is slated to hold this Saturday June 4th, 2022 at the Bashlyks Sports House & Events Centre, opposite Concord Hotel, New Owerri, and everything needed to make the event historical has been put in place.
According to a press statement issued on behalf of the professional association and endorsed by Messrs Sampson Orji and Tunde Liadi, the competition’s Local Organizing Committee(LOC), Chairman and Secretary respectively, the body disclosed that the championship which is being sponsored by Distinguished Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu “Samdaddy” in collaboration with Imo State SWAN is aimed at discovering talents, networking, rekindling healthy competition among our schools as well as help develop grassroots sports in the state.
They pointed out that SWAN, as a critical sports stakeholder has been at the forefront of pushing and ensuring that sports and the participants get the necessary, adequate and required attention both from the public and private sectors for its growth and advancement.
They also noted that the competition has suffered some set back in recent past due to the state of the economy and insecurity situations that have bedeviled the state.
Thus, as a critical stakeholder, Imo SWAN and inline with Samdaddy’s vision on grassroots sports development and transformation have carefully and randomly selected the following schools for this inaugural edition, Government Secondary School, Owerri, Holy Ghost College, Owerri, and two other schools St’ Joseph Academy, Amaimo and Imperial Secondary School, Ubomiri who are situated at Ikeduru and Mbaitoli Local Government Areas for easy management.
Obviously, the association and her principal partner is optimistic that the next edition which is coming up soon, that schools in the three Senatorial Zones that constitutes the state shall be deeply involved.
The association passionately appealed to corporate bodies, lovers of sports and wealthy individuals to emulate the likes of Samdaddy in having collaborative partnership towards promotion and advancement of sports in schools, through catch them young strategic approach.
Imo SWAN expressed dismay on the dwindling fortune of school and other sports in the state which have now become a bane in the mission of the state government for overall development of sports in the state.
