The National Youth Games is scheduled to hold in Asaba, the Delta State Capital from September 7th – 17th, 2023.
The Sports Federation stakeholders on Monday stormed Asaba to brainstorm on the success of the forthcoming National Youth Games.
The Federal Government has also initiated a National Identification Number (NIN) verification policy for participating athletes in the seventh edition of the National Youth Games (NYG)
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Ismaila Abubakar disclosed this to journalists at the Joint technical meetings between the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development officials, the Delta State Sports Commission, the local organizing committee, and technical directors from the 36 states and the FCT, Abuja, held in Asaba.
The meeting also revealed the modalities to adopt for the Seventh National Youth Games.
The Permanent Secretary who was represented by Dr. Simon Ebojaye said that the future lies in the hands of the youths for a better country.
Alhaji Ismaila who is also the Chairman of Main Organizing Committee (MOC) passionately appealed to states to bring athletes that fall bellow the age of 15 saying that it is strictly Under 15 competition. He warned that any erring athlete irrespective of the states would be sanctioned.
The Permanent Secretary who was represented by Dr. Simon Ebojaye said that the future lies in the hands of the youths for a better country. He further noted that since Delta had hosted the National Sports festival last seven months ago, some of the facilities used would be updated to meet up the expected standard.
Alhaji Ismaila who is the Chairman of Main Organizing Committee (MOC) passionately appealed to States to bring athletes that fall bellow the age of 15 saying that it is strictly Under 15 competition.
He warned that any erring athlete irrespective of the States would be sanctioned.
On the inspected venues for the competition, Ismaila noted that since Delta had hosted the National Sports festival last seven months ago, some of the facilities used would be updated to meet up the expected standard.
Earlier, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori affirmed that the State Government was ever ready to host the National Youth Games without hitches as the state had hosted national sports festival that was bigger than the Youth Games.
The governor represented at the meeting by the Chairman Delta State Sports Commission, Mr. Tonobok Okowa vowed to maintain its top position during the competition.
Oborevwori said the state was open to useful advise from the technical committee for the success of the competition.
No fewer than 30 sports are to feature at the seventh edition of the National Youth Games.
The Games are designed to discover athletes that will be nurtured to stardom, the games are; Athletics, Gymnastics, Para – Table Tennis, Badminton, Handball, Boxing, Basketball, Hockey, Table Tennis, Beach Volleyball, Karate, and Tennis.
Others are Canoeing, Para-Athletics, Taekwondo, Chess, Squash and Scrabble, Cycling, Swimming, Volleyball, Football, Judo, Weightlifting, Golf, Rugby, and Wrestling.
The first edition was hosted by Abuja and since then Kwara state has been the hosting state before the ministry of Youth awarded the seventh edition to Delta state.
Meanwhile, the sixth edition witnessed 37 sports events with Delta state emerged as the overall winner with 60 gold, 26 silver, and 28 bronze medals, this makes it six wins in the six National Youth Games for Delta.
Team Lagos came second with 19 gold, 25 silver, and 28 bronze medals, while Edo occupied the third position with 18 gold, 10 silver, and 12 bronze medals.
