By SEGUN GIWA

The Alake of Egbaland, Oba Michael Gbadebo, has expressed confidence that the next generation of African athletics’ superstars would come out of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) U-18/U-20 Championship.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the championships, which began in Abeokuta on July 16 to end on July 20, have 35 countries already on ground.

Gbadebo stated this when the Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Bukola Olopade, led a delegation to his palace on Tuesday evening.

He said Abeokuta, the host city of the junior championship, would boost the rich cultural heritage and history of the competition.

Ant to say I am very happy that our son, Bukola Olopade, is the Director-General of Sports in Nigeria, and we are so proud of the work he is doing to develop Nigerian sports.

“We are also very happy to be staging this championship here in Abeokuta and I am very confident that many of the young talents that are participating in this championship will soon begin to shine all over the world”.

“It might also interest our visitors to know that Abeokuta is the first town to produce a Traditional Ruler to go to Europe in 1904 in the whole of West Africa.

“We signed a treaty of friendship with the British in 1893 so when the British had the whole of Nigeria as a colony we were not part of it,” he said.

The traditional ruler urged the CAA officials to take full advantage of their presence in the state by ensuring they experience the rich culture and hospitality of ‘Egbaland’ (Abeokuta).

” Before you all leave Abeokuta I want to urge you to visit the first Presidential Library in West Africa – the Olusegun Obasanjo Library.

“You should also visit our local market and buy our adire which is our export to the world. In all you do, take something from Abeokuta, that will remind you of your coming,” he added.

The President of CAA, Halmad Malboum, expressed appreciation to the traditional ruler for hosting the delegation.

Malboum thanked President Bola Tinubu for creating the platform and support that enabled Nigeria and Ogun to host the championship in the shortest possible time, after the withdrawal of Algeria.

NAN reports that the CAA president was accompanied by members of his executive board and other top officials of the World Athletics family. (NAN)