By Chukwuemeka Opara

A Cricket Stakeholder, Chika Okoro, says he always fills in to sponsor Ebonyi athletes, especially cricketers, to competitions when the Ebonyi state government fails.

“This is to enable them competing favourably with their compatriots nationally,” Okoro said.

Okoro has consistently sponsored cricketers to represent the state in national competitions when the state government fails to sponsor contingents to such events.

A vivid instance was the last National Sports Festival in Abeokuta, Ogun state, when the cricket team Okoro sponsored, became Ebonyi’s lone representative at the festival.

Okoro, who is the South East Representative in the Nigeria Cricket Federation, said in an interview on Tuesday in Abakaliki that seeing Ebonyi, his state not participating in national competitions was “worrisome”.

Okoro, an ex-Cricket International, said his desire to see budding cricketers whom he groomed showcase their skills at the national stage, was his biggest motivational factor.

“I floated a scholarship scheme in the memory of my late wife where I support budding cricketers in their education while playing the sport.

“When I see these cricketers train for months and the state cannot sponsor them for competitions, the passion I have for the sport, makes me sponsor them.

“I wholly sponsor their camping and cannot bear seeing them miss competitions which would make the camping exercise futile.”

He noted that most of the cricketers he groomed have become national stars and doing well academically which gives him great joy.

“We have succeeded in raising indomitable cricket teams (male and female) for Ebonyi which have consistently won medals in regional and national competitions.

“We have consistently won gold and silver medals since 2012 when I got involved in Ebonyi sports and states across Nigeria shiver whenever they meet our teams during competitions.

“I engage eggheads in cricket to scout for budding talents from primary and secondary schools then groom them adequately to become champions.”

He, however, lamented that the state government has not appreciated him for his worthy interventions in the state’s sports but he was not bothered.

“The gratitude from the young cricketers is enough for me as I feel fulfilled for having taken them off the streets and making their lives meaningful.

“I do not need much from the government but its commitment to sustain the blueprint which I used to enhance the sport in the state.

“The male cricketers are not on my scholarship scheme for instance because there is limit to my financial commitment.”