NSF Zonal Elimination: Imo state shows dominance as South East Zonal Elimination for Gateways Games ends in Enugu
The battle for places in team Sports for the 22nd National Sports Festival in Ogun state, has been concluded in the South East Zonal Elimination held in Enugu state.
The Coal City of Enugu was agog with sporting activities for the past few days with athletes in the region jostling for honour, pride and dignity in the various Team Sports.
Imo state showed their sporting dominance in the region by picking nine qualification slots, the highest among the five participating States.
Imo picked the two available slots in Men and Women Handball Abula while in Men’s Basketball, the state picked one of the two available slots alongside Enugu.The women’s slot went to Anambra and Ebonyi states.
In Men’s Volleyball, Imo also finished first while the second qualification slot went to host state, Enugu and In the women’s category, Anambra and Abia picked the two available tickets.
In Beach Volleyball, Imo and Abia secured the two slots for the Sports Festival in the Men’s Category while for the Women, Anambra and Abia will represent the region in Ogun State.
In Men’s Cricket, Imo and Anambra are the two qualified states and Ebonyi and Abia will also be at the festival but in the women’s category.
In Handball, Enugu and Anambra states will be at the Festival in the men’s category while for the women, Imo and Abia qualified to represent the region at the Games.
And finally in Football, in the Men’s category Imo and Ebonyi are the two qualified teams while Enugu and Abia states picked the two available slots in the women’s category.
The Director of Sports Festival and Para-sports at the National Sports Commission, NSC, Mrs. Tecla Opara who was on ground to monitor proceedings praised the current leadership of the Commission for ensuring all the zones had a hitch-free competition, especially in terms of financial support.
” The current leadership of the NSC of Mallam Shehu Dikko and Hon. Bukola Olopade are very intentional about revamping the country’s sports and that is why serious attention was put into the zonal eliminations this time around, which is a clear departure from how things used to be in the past
” I must thank them and We are all now looking forward to a very successful Sports Festival in Ogun State in May this year , where both the State and the National Sports Commission, are determined to stage one of the best organised Festivals in the history of the Games “, she concluded.
Meanwhile the South East Zonal Coordinator of the NSC, Ben Ezema has thanked all the participating states for their cooperation throughout the competition while assuring them that the Commission will improve on the organisation of future eliminations.
