BENIN- Brown Ebewele,the Edo Commissioner for Sports, yesterday confirmed the decamping of the state’s athletes for the postponed 16th National Sports Festival.
They were camped for a month at Benin , Afuze and Auchi. Ebewele told NAN that the disbandment followed the postponement of the national sports festival earlier billed for this month in Kaduna until February,2009.
He said the 1,250 athletes would regroup in January for the biennial festival.
The commissioner reiterated the desire of the state to clinch the topmost position in the festival after playing second fiddle to Delta in the last two games.
He said he had been given the go-ahead to replace the athletes who had left Edo for other states.
“The big news here is that government has just given approval to fill the vacant positions in the sports council.
“That is a big boost and it will give us the opportunity to replace all those athletes we have lost.
“The state is particularly keen on winning the festival after playing second fiddle to Delta State in the last two competitions.” Ebewele
said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the National Council of Sports at its meeting on Oct. 20 in Kaduna , decided to put off the Games until February, 2009.
The postponement was to give hosts Kaduna time to complete facilities for the festival still under construction.
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