By Jude Agbeyeke.
The Director General of the Delta State Sports Commission, Mr. Festus Ohwojero says the State would not host the South-South Zonal Eliminations for the 2025 National Sports Festival.
Mr Ohwojero said the State recently hosted the 7th National Youth Games and in the course of hosting it had scuttled the academic calendar of some schools in the state capital because their facilitiea were used for accommodation.
According to him, the state government would not want to stretch the academic calendars of these schools as they were already in session and asking them to go on another recess for a week would be hurtful to the schools and their students.
Mr Ohwojero who was reacting to recent calls by sports stakeholders in the region to bail the region out after initial hosts Rivers State had revealed that it would not be able to host the South – South Zonal Elimination due to the political challenges faced by the Rivers State.
The Director General however revealedbthat Team Delta Athletes were already preparing for the South-South Zonal Eliminations with the hopes of picking the tickets to represent the zone I the team sports.
He averred that Team Delta as defending champions were not leaving any stone unturned in its bid to successfully defend its title at the Games in Abeokuta next year.
Mr Ohwojero also revealed that Team Delta athletes were already camped at various venues across the nation and would arrive Asaba for their closed camping as soon as a host for the Zonal elimination was made known.
The Director General however opined that some of the states foreign athletes would not be taking part in next year’s games in Abeokuta as they would be in session at their various schools saying thought hey would be greatly missed the state had the wherewithal to retain its title.
He therefore enjoined Team Delta Atetes to sustain the tempo by giving their best as usual at the games even as he assured them that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori had put modalities on ground to make their outing at next year’s games a memorable one.
The sports administrator said Governor Oborevwori was committed to the welfare of the athletes.
The 2025 National Sports Festival is scheduled to hold in Abeokuta from 15th to 25th of January next year and Team Delta are the defending champions.
