Manyatta Queens play Kopere Starlets in the final of the women's Back to School Under-17 tournament sponsored by Kisumu Senator Prof. Tom Ojienda on Friday at noon in Muhoroni.
In the boys' final, Chemelil Youth will host Bayern Academy at 2 pm Chemelil Stadium. Senator Ojienda will grace the final matches alongside other leaders from Nyanza.
The winners in the girls' and boys’ categories will walk away with trophies. Besides trophies, the finalists will be awarded bursaries. They will also receive educational materials including textbooks.
Prof Ojienda said the objective of the tournament which started on December 21 is to nurture talent and empower youths in the county.
The participants in the youth tournament were drawn from Muhoroni, Seme, Kisumu Central, Kisumu East, Nyando, Kisumu West and Nyakach sub-counties in Kisumu.
The tournament, which is themed towards environment conservation, education empowerment, and gender-based violence advocacy attracted 20 teams (both boys and girls) at the preliminary stage.
Prof Ojienda said sports are important and need to be supported. He said the players who are taking part in the tournament will be given bursaries and scholarships.
"We have the social responsibility to grow talent in this part of the country. Let's nurture and support our talented youth," he said.
The senator said leaders must support sporting activities at the community level.
He called for the establishment of sports academies in the county. “We should have youth academies that grow talent amongst our youths in the region,” Prof Ojienda said.
He pledged to give more support towards nurturing and developing young talent in a bid to help them achieve their goals of playing at the top level.
“As leaders, we have the social responsibility to grow sports in the county. Sports is a well-paying sector which must be fully exploited to increase earnings among our young people,” he said.
