The minister of sports development, Senator John Owan Enoh, yesterday received the rising gymnastic sensation, Stephanie Ogechukwu Onusiriuka, in his office in Abuja, after the outstanding performance of the 13 year old at the recently concluded National Youth Games in Asaba, Delta State.
Little Stephanie won four gold medals in gymnastics, blazing the trail in the sport and displaying huge potentials of promise during the Games.
Senator Enoh congratulated Stephanie for her spectacular achievements and promised that the Ministry will pay close attention to her growth and development.
“I am very proud of you,” Senator Enoh said to the young starlet. “There is greater pride and joy competing for your country and on the national stage. I will be interested in following up with your career, as you develop through the coming years.”
“The country is excited about talents like this. She has demonstrated huge potential and she is a microcosm of the talent abundance in Nigeria. We are enthusiastic and focused on their development and transition, up to the level of one day being olympians,” he added.
At the National Youth Games in Asaba, Stephanie Onusiriuka won gold medals in the gymnastics beam event, floor event, vault event and topped it with another gold as the best all-round gymnast in the country in Asaba.
At the 2020 National Sports Festival in Edo State, the starlet picked up one gold, two silver medals and a bronze medal.
At the African Club Championship, Pretoria 2019 and 2022, she picked up a gold medal too.
The minister in a press release signed his media aide, Kola Daniel, while warmly receiving young Stephanie and her mother, Mrs Onwusiriuka, restated his commitment to the core mandates of his leadership, unearthing and supporting young talents, who will transition into elite stars in the future.
He concluded that the country must ensure that there is no void in the continuum of progress, when current elites begin to draw closer to the twilight of their careers.
