BY DUKU JOEL, DAMATURU

The Northeast Zonal Team Sports Competition has commenced in Damaturu, Yobe State, as part of preparations for the final selection of athletes for this year’s National Sports Festival holding in May in Ogun State.

Declaring the event open, Governor Mai Mala Buni urged all athletes to compete fairly, assuring them that the state has taken all necessary measures to ensure a smooth and successful tournament.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mohammed M. Balumi, Governor Buni emphasized his administration’s commitment to the development and welfare of athletes.

He also encouraged participants to embrace the hospitality of Yobe State while assuring them of their safety throughout the competition.

The Zonal Coordinator of Sports at the National Sports Commission, Okey Emmanuel, described the event as Nigeria’s equivalent of the Olympics, underscoring the importance of selecting only the best athletes for the festival.

“This competition is like Nigeria’s Olympics, and only the best of the best will be selected. I urge all athletes to play by the rules and make their respective states proud,” he stated.

The zonal elimination tournament, which will run for four days, features athletes from Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe states.

He commended the Yobe State Government for hosting the event while urging journalists to uphold the ethics of the profession.

The team games featuring in the zonal elimination are football, hockey, volleyball, beach volleyball, basketball, handball, cricket and Abula.

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The Leadership of the National Sports Commission, NSC, will be busy across various centres supervising and monitoring proceedings as the Zonal elimination for Team Sports for the 22nd National Sports Festival takes centre stage this week.

States will be jostling to secure spots at the different zonal centres that Include; Ibadan, Benin, Enugu, Kaduna, Plateau and Yobe state for various Team Sports at the 22nd National Sports Festival coming up in Ogun State.

The Zonal elimination will mark another bold step in preparation towards the successful organisation of the Festival billed for May this year in the Gateway State.

The NSC leadership is determined to ensure there is hitch-free zonal elimination across the various centres and to this end, the Chairman and the Director General of the Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko and Hon Bukola Olopade, have decided to visit some of the centres.

The NSC Chairman Mallam Shehu Dikko will be at the Kaduna Centre while the Director General Hon. Bukola Olopade will be at the Ibadan Centre, as their presence also emphasises the new commitment of the current leadership of the Sports Commission.

The Chairman of the NSC Mallam Shehu Dikko said the zonal elimination is as important as the Festival itself, therefore outlining the determination to have a very successful competition across the various centres.

” We are determined to do things differently with a touch of global best practices and this is why we are putting utmost seriousness to the zonal eliminations this time around “.

The Director General, Hon. Bukola Olopade in a similar vein said the Commission has provided all the needed logistics through the Department of Sports Festival and Grassroots Development, for all the zones to host a successful qualification.”

 The Gateway Games in Ogun state will go down as one of the best-organised Games in the festival history and for this to be achieved, we must have one of the best organised Zonal eliminations”, he stated.

Team Sports that are featured in the Zonal elimination phase Included Football, Volleyball, Basketball, hockey, cricket, beach volleyball, Ambulance and Handball.

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The 22nd edition of the National Sports Festival tagged Gateway Games has been rescheduled to run from 16 to 30 May 2025 in Ogun State. That was the main outcome of the Joint Technical Meeting of the stakeholders at an event held on Thursday 19 December 2024 in Abeokuta.

The Joint Technical Meeting consists of the Main Organising Committee, the Local Organising Committee, the States’ Director of Sports, Sports Federation Secretaries and the Technical Directors of the disciplines of the sports federations taking part in the sports festival.

As a departure from the preceding 21 editions of the festival, the Gateway 2024 will feature an additional team, the Invited Junior Athletes which will compete as the 38th contingent at the festival.

The Invited Junior Athletes codenamed “IJA” will be composed of athletes selected from the National Youth Sports Festival which Delta State is hosting after the previous five-year hosting by Kwara State.

The concept which the Joint Technical Meeting viewed as being developmental is taken after that of the Olympic Games which have some athletes competing as Individual Neutral Athletes under a neutral flag and another one as Refugee Team.

The Invited Junior Athletes therefore will not be featured under the states where they come from.

Following a recommendation by the Commissioner for Health in Ogun State and member of the Local Organising Committee, Dr. Omotomilola Coker, the Joint Technical Committee enjoined all State delegates to appoint a Chief Medical Officer for easy interface before and during the Games.

 A breakdown of the schedule of the Gateway Games will show the contingents arriving on May 16 and 17, 2025, while the competition begins on May 18.

The closing ceremony will hold on May 29 which previously was Nigeria’s Democracy Day before it was moved to June 12.

The Zonal Eliminations for Team Sports for the Games will run from  February 23-28, 2025.

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