By Isaac Afolabi
Arrangement have been concluded by the Nigerian Rope Skipping Federation to host the first Rope Skipping Championship in 2020.
The event will be staged at the Indoor Sports Hall, Akure, Ondo State from 17th to 19th January, 2020.
Speaking to Journalists ahead of the event,the secretary general of the association Mr Olusesan Olukoya said one of the aims of the event is to popularise the game of Rope skipping across the nooks and craning of the country and give children the opportunity to write their names in gold as the game is now set to be displayed at the upcoming national sports festival in Benin Edo state and at the Tokyo Olympic this year.
Mr Olusesan who witnessed some of the training sessions by kids in Ondo state as trained by coach Chibusi Ukandu expressed delight with the turn out of the children towards the game and commended the Ondo state government for its developmental programs but called for more support from stakeholders
Responding the Ondo state coordinator Coach Chibusi Ukandu said the kids in Ondo state are ready to challenge other kids from the eleven states and eventually promote to represent Nigeria in subsequent events
The championship has been tagged: Dawn of Jump Rope in Nigeria.
States that were set to participate in the national championship are: Lagos, Delta, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, Kwara, Edo, Osun, Rivers, Plateau, Bayelsa and Imo. Athletes and officials are expected to converge at Akure on Friday 17th January 2020 while the event proper will hold on the second day Saturday 18th January and later AGM that same evening. Departure of the teams will be on Sunday 19th January 2020.