Delta School Sports Festival Now Annual Event, Says Okowa

Delta School Sports Festival Now Annual Event, Says Okowa
  • Nosiere School lifts Headmasters’ Cup

Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba

Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has said that the Delta State School Sports Festival would become an annual affair and an avenue to discover budding talents for local, national and international sports competition.

Okowa stated this in his closing remarks at the grand finale of the maiden Delta State Schools Sports Festival at the Stephen Keshi Stadium Asaba, on Wednesday evening.

While thanking God for eventual institution of the state’s sports fiesta, the governor assured indigenes of the state that boys and girls discovered at the festival would be nurtured for various future sports tournaments.

In the final of the football match, Nosiere Primary School I, Agbor in Ika South Local Government Area defeated Destiny Primary School, Ughelli by a lone goal to lift the Headmaster’s Cup.

Governor Okowa appealed to other states of the federation to organise similar schools sports festivals not only to boost sport development in Nigeria generally, but to promote the physical and mental fitness of our youths as well.

Going down memory lane, he noted that Delta State has long been a breeding ground for sports talents in the country, saying his administration has been investing much in sports, in terms of infrastructure and human capital, including educational, to sustain the tempo in sport development.

Okowa said, “It is well known that Delta State is a sports-loving state and its athletes did very well in feeding the teams of Mid-West and later Bendel State, before Edo and Delta states were created. What we are doing today is to replicate what we were doing in the past, in the days of old Bendel; and, we are excited to witness and participate in this sports festival.

“We are aware that three editions of the Principal’s Cup have been held; today we are witnessing the finals of the Headmaster’s Cup, because our desire is to catch them young, nurture them to be professionals at the national and international stages.”

The governor thanked the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Chiedu Ebie and members of the organizing committee for the successful package of the event, expressing the hope that the festival, ”which is a fertile ground to catch budding talents”, would be sustained as an annual sports festival by his successor from 2023.

He also commended the head teachers and principals of the participating schools, noting that the young athletes displayed great features of good future sports men and women.

Students and pupils of different secondary and primary schools across the state competed for medals in different athletics events during the festival including track and field and indoor sports like 100m and 200m races, high/long jump, short put, discuss, javelin, scrabble, chess, badminton, table tennis, volleyball, handball and basketball.

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