Airtel Rising Stars comes to an end

The tournament started in July 2011 with thousands of youngsters, under 17 years of age, from across Nigeria registering to participate in the Airtel open camps in the following Zones, North West, North East, North Central, North Basin, South East, South West, South Delta, Lagos metro, Lagos North, with centres in Kano, Gombe, Kaduna, Jos, Owerri, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Lagos and Abeokuta respectively.

The boys from the North East Zone won the trophy in the male category while the girls from the South Delta Zone emerged winners in the female category.

Trophies were presented to the winners by the chief operating officer and executive director of Airtel Nigeria, Deepak Srivastava, Nigeria's footballer, Nwankwo Kanu and musician, Tu Face Idibia.

Other dignitaries at the event included: Ibirobo Adekoya, director legal operations, Airtel Nigeria; George Andah, chief marketing officer, Airtel; Colonel Ahwades Kalia, chief technical officer, Airtel; captain of Nigeria team that won the Under 17 World Cup, Nduka Ugbade; and Tayo Oreweme, representative of the director general of the National Sports Commission.

Five outstanding talents will now proceed to South Africa in October to join players from several African countries for a soccer boot camp and for further training and development at the prestigious Institute for Sports.