- Lagos, Edo in battle for second spot
Ahead of the closing ceremony of the 2024 National Youth Games in Asaba, Delta State, Team Delta has surged to an unassailable lead in the medals table, even with some events still to conclude.
With a total of 75 medals, including 42 gold, 14 silver, and 19 bronze, athletes and officials from Team Delta were already in a celebratory mood at the Stephen Keshi Stadium.
Meanwhile, Team Lagos has overtaken Edo in the race for the second spot. Team Edo, which held second place since Day 2 of the competition, dropped to third on Tuesday evening.
While Team Lagos had 16 gold, 12 silver and 16 bronze medals, Edo had 15 gold, 7 silver and 17 bronze as at Wednesday evening.
Last year, when Delta hosted the 7th edition of the Games, the state topped the medals table with 51 gold, 34 silver and 11 bronze medals, with Team Lagos on second spot with 21 gold, 19 silver and 21 bronze. Edo finished third last year with 21 gold, 15 silver and 17 bronze.
Bayelsa State, which finished fourth last year with 20 gold, 7 silver and 16 bronze was on the fifth spot, yesterday behind Team Kwara.
While Kwara had 10 gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze on the table as at yesterday, Team Bayelsa had 9 gold, 11 silver and 12 bronze. The situation might change today, as Bayelsa was expected to dominate the wrestling event, which just started Wednesday afternoon.
Director General of Delta Sports Commission, Festus Ohwojero, declared, yesterday, that Team Delta would still win more gold medals before today’s closing ceremony as the state athletes are still eyeing medals in today’s athletics event.
“We topped the medals table with 51 gold last year. Now, we are having 42 gold, which means the Games is more competitive this year. As at now, 32 states have medals unlike last year when it was about 27 states. Apart from Rivers State, all other states and the FCT attended this year’s Games,” Ohwojero stated.
Incidentally, Delta State has won all editions of the National Youth Games since it was launched in 2016.
In some of the events concluded yesterday, Team Delta won gold in the para-athletics boys t46/47 event through Toheeb Olawale. Akwa Ibom grabbed the silver, while Bauchi settled for the bronze.
In female handball, Delta secured the gold medal, while Sokoto took silver and Edo claimed bronze. Team Kaduna also shone brightly, achieving two gold medals and one silver medal yesterday.
They won gold in Beach Volleyball Girls and Cricket Boys, along with a silver in Beach Volleyball Boys.
Today’s boys’ football final will feature Delta against Abia State, as Edo did not appear for their semifinal match against Delta at St. Patrick College, Asaba. Team Edo reportedly protested the decision of the screening committee to reinstate four Delta players back into the Games.