Technical Committee Co-Chairman of the Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF), Enefiok Udo-Obong has announced that the registration portal would be closed on February 28 as he urged State Liaison Committees to double their efforts at facilitating registration of athletes in their respective states. He hinted that there will be a reward for the state with highest entries.
Udo-Obong spoke in a virtual review meeting of the Technical/Facilities Committee and the States Liaison members.
He also seized the opportunity to remind them of the eligibility rules, emphasising that, “the only eligibility criteria are being an indigene of a Niger Delta Development Commission state and being under 25 years of age”.
He disclosed that an exception to the age cap rule is for football and boxing where professionals and League players are not qualified to register.
“We excluded the Para Sports from the age cap, there is no age limit in those
sports. But Olympians who are under 25 years are eligible to participate”.
A cursory check on the registration data shows that more entries have been received for athletics, followed by football and Para athletics.
On a state by state registration scale, Delta State is ahead of the rest and are trailed by Ondo, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Edo states.
The Australia 2000 Olympics gold medalist in the 4x400m relay disclosed that he has secured the confidence of the Main Organising Committee (MOC) Co-Chairman, Itiako Ikpokpo for a reward to the top three states in the registration ladder.
The NDSF is the very first regional sports festival in the country and will hold in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State from April 1-9. The festival is sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for athletes indigenous to the nine mandate states of the Commission.
Over 3,000 athletes are expected to participate in 17 select sports.