Making of Champions (MoC) Track Club on Tuesday unveiled a total of 16 new athletes who officially joined the club in order to help nurture their talents and make them become world beaters in their respective athletic careers.
At the press conference which took place in Surulere, Lagos, three senior athletes – Suraj Habib, Kelechi Christian and Ifeanyi Christian including thirteen other youth and junior athletes were unveiled while two shell sponsored senior athletes – Emmanuel Ojeli and Favour Ekpekpe were also celebrated for their new deals.
So let’s get to this quickly! Who are the three new Making of Champions senior athletes for 2019?
Ladies first! So we begin with Kelechi Christian – a Nigerian through and through, born in Aba but relocated to Zimbabwe at age 10 with her parents. Hence, how she became the reigning U20 African Champion in the 100m event competing for Zimbabwe in Algeria 2017. She also claimed a Bronze medal in the 200m and Silver in the 4x100m all at the same tournament.
Kelechi is back in Nigeria now re-integrated into the culture, environment and system and is now an 100 level student of the Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education of the University of Lagos.
Next up is Ifeanyi Christian – Making of Champions’ first para athlete and he does join the club with an enviable list of achievements. Ifeanyi Christian is currently the best in the men’s T46 category in 100m, 200m and 400m in Nigeria. He also won Gold medal for Akwa Ibom at the just concluded National Sports Festival (NSF) in November, 2018 having won Silver in the T46 200m category at Eko 2012.
Finally for the senior athletes is Suraj Habib – the first northern athlete signed on to Making of Champions Track Club. Suraj relocated from Zaria in Kaduna State, to join Making of Champions Track Club while also working on furthering his studies in the process. He specialises in the 400m and hope to emulate the likes of Musa Audu and Godday James who both won Bronze medals at the Athens 2004 Olympics, as well as Franca Idoko who also won the Silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
Now to the young and junior athletes; most of which are products of several trials organized by MoC in Ughelli (Delta State), Port Harcourt (Rivers State), Enugu and Lagos States between September and October 2018. Most of these athletes were eventually relocated by MoC to Lagos State a few months ago, and have since commenced preparation for the 2019 season.
The male athletes include John Clifford, Favour Ashe, Adeola Ayo, Gracious Ushie, Inioluwa Mebawondu, Eze Owho, and Uthman Yusuff. Their female counterparts are Miracle Thompson, Fidelia Ucheobi, Success Umukoro, Victory Owhoviorole, Maria Umoibang and Halima Badmus.
For a track club which began with eight athletes in 2016 and has grown that number to about thirty, MoC Founder/CEO Bambo Akani has revealed his excitement on what lies ahead for the club and its athletes.
