Basketball prodigy honoured to finish top three for prestigious award

When basketball prodigy Irene Oboavwoduo found out that she had finished in the top three for SportsAid’s prestigious One-to-Watch Award, there was added emotion as mum Judith was the one to break the news and present her with her third-place plaque.

The One-to-Watch Award, supported by Aldi, the charity’s official supermarket partner, recognises Britain’s brightest young sporting prospects and has been running since 2006 with previous victors including Olympic champions Tom Daley and Alex Yee and Paralympic gold medallist Hollie Arnold.

Oboavwoduo was selected in third place for the illustrious award from around 1,000 rising stars, supported by SportsAid, across more than 60 different sports in 2024. It was a fitting moment for her family to share given the sacrifices made by Oboavwoduo’s parents in helping her to reach the top.

She is part of an elite sporting family with her older brother Justin and younger sister Jane both being on the books at Manchester City, while it was Irene’s eldest sister Anita who first got her into basketball. But she would not be where she is – captaining England to U16 Four Nations glory in 2024 – without the support of her mum and dad.

So when Judith got the chance to tell her daughter that she had finished third among the 10 shortlisted nominees for the One-to-Watch Award, it was a very special occasion.

Judith said: “It was really an honour to do that. I was hugely proud to be able to give that to her. When we got the news that she was among the top 10. We were shocked and amazed, looking at the other people who had been nominated, we thought ‘wow’.

“Just being in the top 10 was a big award, and then to be third is mind-blowing. All the hard work has paid off because she has been so