Sports Briefs
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SOLOMON Dalung, minister of youths and sports development, has revealed that the National Sports Festival, NSF, the country’s biennial multi-sports competition organised by the federal government will hold this year.
The minister made the disclosure on Friday, January 20, in Makurdi, Benue State, at an interactive forum with the executive council of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, Benue Chapter, adding that budgetary allocation for the hosting of the festival was made this year.
According to him, such festival serves as a development and training event to assist athletes to prepare for continental and international meets. “The NSF is supposed to be an avenue where youths will showcase their skills,” he said.
He said the event was also important for Nigerian’s preparations for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, adding that it was now left for the National Sports Commission to determine where and when it will hold.
“They will ensure that all the facilities for the event were ready before the festival,” he said.
Dalong said the festival for some years was billed to take place in Calabar, the Cross River capital in 2014 but had suffered several postponements. The festival is supported by the National Sports Commission for athletes from the 36 States of Nigeria.
The festival, which started in 1973, at the National Stadium, Surulere in Lagos, involves all indoor and outdoor sports, and was originally conceived as a ‘unifying tool.’ It has as its main purpose, the promotion of peace and cross-cultural affiliation in Nigeria after the Nigerian Civil War in 1970.
— Jan 30, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT
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