The battle for places in team Sports for the 22nd National Sports Festival in Ogun state has been concluded in the South East Zonal Elimination held in Enugu state.
Imo showed their sporting dominance in the region by picking nine qualification slots, the highest among the five participating States.
The state picked the two available slots in men and women Handball Abula while in men’s Basketball, Imo state picked one of the two available slots alongside Enugu.
The women’s slot went to Anambra and Ebonyi states.
In men’s volleyball, Imo also finished first while the second qualification slot went to Host state, Enugu.
In the women’s Category Anambra and Abia picked the two available tickets.
In Beach Volleyball, Imo and Abia secured the two slots for the Sports Festival in the men’s category while for the women, Anambra and Abia will represent the region in Ogun State.
In men’s Cricket, Imo and Anambra are the two qualified States, Ebonyi and Abia will also be at the festival but in the Women’s category.
In Handball, Enugu and Anambra states will be at the Festival in the men’s category while for the women, while Imo and Abia qualified to represent the region at the games.
In Football, in the men’s category Imo and Ebonyi are the two qualified Teams while Enugu and Abia states picked the two available slots in the Women’s category.
However, the Director of Sports Festival and Para-sports at the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mrs. Tecla Opara who was on ground to monitor proceedings praised the current leadership of the Commission for ensuring all the zones had a hitch-free competition, especially in terms of financial support.
She said: “The current leadership of the NSC of Mallam Shehu Dikko and Hon. Bukola Olopade is very intentional about revamping the Country’s sports and that is why serious attention was put into the zonal eliminations this time around, which is a clear departure from how things used to be in the past “.
