Sports Minister Sunday Dare Arrives Asaba For 21st National Sports Festival

The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development Mr Sunday Dare and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry Alhaji Ismaila Abubakar has arrived in Asaba, Delta State from Abuja for the National Sports Festival tagged Delta 2022.

Sunday Dare will join other VVIP guests at the opening ceremony for the 21st biennial sporting fiesta will hold on Wednesday, at 4 pm, at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, amidst thousands of athletes, coaches and other accompanying officials from across Nigeria.

Delta won the bid to host the fiesta, which is Nigeria’s version of the Olympics Games at the end of the last edition held in Benin City, Edo State last year.

The 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and four, invited West African countries, will have athletes competing for medals.

A total of 11, 000 athletes will participate in the Delta 2022 National Sports festival; which is about 2,000 more than the number that participated at the last edition held in Edo State, with Nasarawa State presenting the highest number of contingent (277) ever at the competition.

Among the facilities built for the Delta 2022 Festival are two brand-new indoor sports halls, a new swimming pool, a new tartan track, a new shooting range, as well as a new hockey pitch at Okpanam.

The first event for Asaba 2022 is cycling and will be held early Wednesday morning.