Delta 2022: Sunday Dare reveals special love for gymnastics
Photo: Sunday Dare presenting a medal to a winner at the Games.
By George Aluo
Sports Minister Sunday Dare has revealed that gymnastics is one sports he has special love for.
The minister spoke today after watching the gymnastics events at the on going Delta 2022 National Sports Festival.
Hear him…”I am supposed to be the father of all sports but the fact that I am here, I love gymnastics. As a minister, I always visit the gymnastics hall at the Moshood Abiola stadium, Abuja. Most of the gymnasts were very tiny then and I always followed them up. You can see the number of states participating now. When you go to the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, you see the followership. I love gymnastics.”
Dare who also spoke on the next host of the games said the committee saddled with that responsibility is already doing its job.
He said six states are already in the race in the bidding process.
“There is a process. By December 9th, my director, Tony Nelsen will present to me the state that will host but until the 9th, I won’t be able to disclose to you. They are working on evaluation and scoring before they decide.”
The Minister however said they are going to ensure that the States that will come second and third respectively get prepared to avoid what happened in the past that saw Cross State unable to host the event for more than six years.
The Minister said, “When we had Edo, Edo set a standard. It is a change of baton. When we had Delta, they knew they have to either give the same standard as Edo or do better.
“So we signposted that any State that will host must be ready. After Edo State, we set up a committee to review the MOU. So before any State engages, there are clear terms and once you sign it, you must abide by it, that is very important but this time around, we will announce the winner-State and then keep the runners-up close to our chest.
“We knew at any point that if Delta would not make it, Abuja was ready. At this point, there are six states that are jostling and the interest is increasing. There is a timeline. We know when a state is not ready and if that happens, we will just switch over to the runner-up.”
