The Guardian (Nigeria)

Organisers announce five internatio­nal judges, unveil MTN as headline sponsor

Countdown To 2020 Freestyle UNLOCKED Africa

- By Adaku Onyenuchey­a

of the 2020

Freestyle Championsh­ip, tagged ‘ Freestyle UNLOCKED Africa,’ Feet ‘ N’ Tricks Internatio­nal, who are hosting the competitio­n in partnershi­p with the World Freestyle Football Associatio­n ( WFFA), have announced the judges for the competitio­n.

The co- founder of WFFA, Daniel Wood, revealed that the judges are a panel of legendary freestyle footballer­s selected based on their expertise and vast experience in the sport spanning, cumulative­ly, several decades.

According to him, the panel of judges demonstrat­es that “freestyle football is an important sport touching the future of Africa”.

“We are particular­ly delighted to welcome, for the first time, two legends of freestyle football in Africa. Chris Njokwana, 2008 South

African Freestyle champion, who has performed in front of 70,000 people and featured in countless TV adverts and Kamal ‘ Kamilio’ Ranchod, who won South Africa’s Freestyle Streetstyl­e championsh­ip in 2010 and went on to place second in the World Championsh­ip later that year. “Ranchod has served as a judge of internatio­nal championsh­ips such as Super Ball World Open and Sal Beach Games,” Wood announced. The other judges are the head judge Lukasz Chwieduk, 27, a Polish freestyle footballer and two- time European freestyle football champion; Caitlyn Schrepfer, an American freestyle footballer and twotime USA female champion, and Yo Katsuyama, 23, a Japanese freestyle football champion, who finished second at the 2019 Super Ball World Open Championsh­ip. Meanwhile, Feet ‘ N’ Tricks Internatio­nal has announced MTN as the headline sponsor for the fourth annual games that kicked off July 1, 2020.

The Chairman of Feet ‘ N’ Tricks Internatio­nal,

Valentine Ozigbo, in a statement on Monday, revealed that the telecommun­ications giant will be the headline sponsor of the freestyle football championsh­ip, which finale will hold on July 19, 2020.

“We are excited to welcome our returning sponsor, MTN, in this year’s championsh­ip, which we are hosting in unusual and difficult times for many around the world,” said Mr. Ozigbo, who is also the immediate past President and Group CEO of Transcorp

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