The 2021 edition of the Maltina School Games has ended with more student-athletes empowered by the initiative which saw over 1,400 secondary schools as participants.
The schools cut across four states in Nigeria: Abuja, Lagos, Rivers and Bauchi. The athletes were divided into four categories according to their ages and classes; Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Senior Boys and Senior Girls.
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The beverages company birthed the Maltina School Games in partnership with the Nigerian School Sports Federation in 2020.
Since its inception in 2020, the project has impacted over 20 million students by bringing together student-athletes from across the country to compete in a series of track and field events for a chance to win cash prizes as well as educational digital devices.
In 2020, 1,000 secondary schools across Kano, Anambra, Lagos and Abuja participated in the games. The winners went home with cash prizes of N500,000 each, while the top three participants across all the games received a gold, silver, and bronze medal, respectively. All the gold medalists across the states each received an HP laptop in addition to their medals.
Also, grand prizes of N5m and N1m were presented to the overall best school and overall best athletes.
The Minister of Sport, Mr Sunday Dare in a comment, said: “Indeed, the Maltina School Games has achieved what has been the need of the hour and that is to keep the spirit of sportsmanship alive in Nigeria. They have not only achieved this but have exceeded our expectations. Today, School Sports is back because of the Maltina School Games.”
