A Paper Plane Story

 This is the story of students with world class paper plane skills.

 

Who would have thought that folding papers could take a person from Nigeria to compete with world Champions in Austria?

 

This is the story of Ejike and Grace, who emerged as the winners of the Red Bull Paper Wings tournament.

They are both is a 400 Level students University of Ibadan and University of Lagos. At the Red Bull Paper Wings finals in Ibadan, Ejike qualified in the distance category while Grace came out tops in the airtime category.

 

 

According to Ejike:

 

“I trained every day since the Qualiflyers. My expectations were high for the nationals. I had put in a lot of time for it, and most importantly; I prayed so hard to win. So I went at there and I believed.”

 

Ejike admitted that one of the most difficult parts of the tournament was learning how to fold the paper

plane in a form that allowed maximum distance coverage. He won by flying his plane across 38.8 Meters.

 

 

Grace Jompe was the only female contestant in the airtime category, from the University of Lagos.

 

Grace says she contested in the Red Bull paper Wings Tournament because she felt it would be fun.

She said.

 

“My mum had saved a video she saw on Pinterest of a paper plane design and I tried it out because I didn't think that I would do well with the plane that I had used at the Qualiflyers. Even though, eventually, the plane design that I ended up winning with was shared with me by a fellow pilot the day of the National Final.”

  

 

Ejike and Grace would be competing in the world finals of the Red Bull Paper Wings in Austria.