National Sports Festival: Okagbare, Oduduru, Others ‘Shun’ Delta State
Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare reacts after winning the women’s 100m at the Herculis international athletics meeting, at the Louis II Stadium in Monaco, Friday, July 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)
LAGOS MARCH 31ST (URHOBOTODAY)-Delta State’s plans of sweeping all the sprints medals at the National Sports Festival starting on April 2 in Benin City, has been dealt a blow.
Top Nigerian athletes like Blessing Okagbare, Divine Oduduru, Raymond Ekevwo, Itseoritse Itsekiri and another foreign-based preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games have told the Delta State Sports Commission, they won’t be part of Edo’2020.
“We are going to miss our foreign-based athletes at National Sports Festival. Okagbare, Oduduru, Ekevwo, Itsekiri and other foreign-based athletes are not coming.
“They are preparing for the Olympics Games, which is very important to them and to the country,” said Delta State Sports commission chairman Tonobok Okowa.
However, he added that the development will not deter Delta from maintaining its number position in Nigerian sports. The Edo’2020 sports fiesta is expected to roll off after suffering several postponements due to COVID-19 concerns.
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