NDDC Speaks On First Edition Of Niger Delta Sports Festival

The first edition of the Niger Delta Sports Festival, which will feature 17 sports has been scheduled to hold in Uyo, Akwa Ibom between April 3 and 12.

Athletics, Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing/Kayak, Football, Handball, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Weightlifting and Wrestling are the sports lined up for the first edition of the sports festival.

Others are Chess, Scrabble, Traditional Wrestling, Volleyball, Para Athletics and Para Powerlifting.

According to a release of featured sports, events and allocation of entries, athletics will have track and field events to be competed for in the men’s and women’s categories.

The competition is organised as part of NDDC’s 25th anniversary celebrations.

According to NDDC Director of Corporate Affairs, Mrs Seledi Thompson-Wakama, the festival is aimed at discovering new talents.

She said: “The maiden multi-sports festival aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s mandate for the NDDC to discover and develop new talents while driving innovation in sports.

“The aim of the festival is to assist states in discovering fresh talents and nurturing them into national and international stars.

“These athletes will also be guided towards pursuing professional sports careers to help them become independent.”

In the track events, there will be 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1,500m, 3,000m steeple chase, 5,000m, 100m hurdles and 110m hurdles.

The relay events will feature the men’s 4x100m, the women’s 4x100m, the men’s 4x400m and the women’s 4x400m.

Long jump, high jump, triple jump, javelin, shot put, discus and hammer are lined up for the field events.

There will be categories for men and women in boxing. In the men’s category, each state will have an athlete in the 52kg, 63kg, 75kg, 81kg and 81kg+ class. Women’s boxing will have three categories of 51kg, 63kg and 75kg.

Four events will be up for the contest in the kayak. The 100m men’s singles, the 100m women’s singles, the 500m men’s singles and the 500m women’s singles are the events for kayak.

In canoeing, there will be singles and doubles events for men and women. The singles event will feature 100m for men and women as well as 200m for men and women. The men will compete in the 500m doubles while the women will also vie in the 500m doubles.

In swimming, the freestyle event will cover 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m while the back stroke will feature 50m, 100m and 200m. Swimming will also have categories in breast stroke, butterfly stroke, individual medley, freestyle relay for men and women as well as mixed medley.

Table Tennis will feature men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles as well as mixed doubles.

NDDC Speaks On First Edition Of Niger Delta Sports Festival is first published on The Whistler Newspaper