<strong><em>Communications Manager, KingMakers, Onu Abraham (middle) presents the winners’ trophy to the captain of Citadel of Grace Home in the U-16 category during the Season 13 Kidsport Charity Cup held at Campos Mini Stadium, Lagos Island on Saturday.</em></strong>
Over 500 children converged on Campos Mini Stadium on Lagos Island on Saturday to take part in Season 13 of Kidsport Charity Cup at the end of which winners emerged in Football, Ayo, Scrabble, E-sports among others.
With lots of side attractions to keep the kids busy while showcasing their talents, the 2023 edition of Kidsport Charity Cup saw the Citadel of Grace Home winning the U-16 title after they walloped Habitation of Hope 4-0 in a thrilling final watched by a mammoth crowd.
Right 2 Smile Academy and The Future Academy played a 1-1 draw in the regulation, but the Right 2 Smile Academy won the penalty shootouts 5-4 to lift the U-15 trophy, while Right 2 Smile Academy beat Varsity FA 1-0 to win the U-13 category.
<em><b>Second place winners in the U-16 category, Habitation of Hope Home display their prize money</b></em>
Prizes were given out to various winners in the different sports featured in the event. Citadel of Grace won the star prize of N1 million of Season 13 Kidsports Charity Cup football event, while Habitation of Hope get the sum of N500,000.
Founder and Coordinator of Kidsport Charity Cup, Ms Bukola Alabi was excited with the success of the one-day event which recorded highest participation so far since the first edition.
“I must confess, this year’s Kidsport Charity Cup has been the biggest so far in terms of number, as we have over 500 kids in attendance who participated in different sports with excellent performance. There are new sports introduced this year,” she said.
“The feedback we got here today is that the kids enjoyed themselves. I am grateful to the sponsors, KingMakers, our major sponsor and every other sponsor that made it possible for us to have a wonderful tournament this year. I must also thank all the orphanage homes that took part in this tournament, so also are the academies and the schools. These kids are super wonderful, and you can see the joys in them.
“The beauty of what we are doing is that we have scout who monitored these kids, and I am happy to say that there has been report of some talents discovered. The scout is actually from Austria. We will not rest on our oars; we will ensure that those discovered are properly followed up.
<strong><em>Kids enjoying playing e-sport at the one-day Kidsport Charity Cup on Saturday.</em></strong>
To the Communications Manager of KingMakers, Onu Abraham, it has always been the passion of the brand to identify with talents of the Nigerian children and find a platform like Kidsport Charity Cup to showcase and develop them.
“The 13 edition that just ended was a welcome one for us at KingMakers, and as a brand we will continue to support initiative like this to develop grassroots football,” Onu said.
He called on other corprate bodies in the country to look out for ways to spotlight the talents in the Nigerian kids.
“The good thing about our country is that we have a lot of talents, but they eagerly waiting for brands that will take them to the limelight. That is what we are doing at KingMakers. We are doing this to help lift the spirit and the God-given talent in these children,” he said.
<strong><em>Kids receiving delicious popcorn at a corner at Campos stadium.</em> </strong>
Sholakunmi Adenipebi, Chief Operating Officer, Gamr Africa, one of the sponsors, described his company coming into the Kidsport Charity Cup to add value to the competition.
“We bring on board e-sport which is a new innovation in sporting actvities in the country. This is an electronic game or what is popularly referred to as video game. We are trying to encourage the future generation to learn how to do e-sport now because that is the future. It will also create a career path for them. The tech is what we do because technology is the future and this is what we do at Gamr Africa,” he said.
Adenipebi who is also a co-founder at Gamr Africa was so elated with the reception of the e-sport at the just concluded Season 13 of Kidsport Charity Cup, adding that “the kids already know much about video game, and this is another opportunity to earn some money from what they know to do best. Most of them won cash prizes and gift items,” he said.