By Solomon Nwoke

Rivers State is poised to deliver a magnificent opening ceremony of the 17th National Sports Festival that will certainly hold all spell-bound and remain evergreen in their memory for a long time to come.

The state’s Deputy Governor and Local Organisng Committee chairman, Engr Tele Ikuru made this promise during the opening session of the first meeting of the heads of delegation to the Garden City Games at the Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt.

He disclosed that President Goodluck Jonathan will be the special guest of honour at the ceremony scheduled to begin by 6pm today at the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt.

According to him, all logistics had been put in place to transport all the athletes to the stadium from the games village and ensure all were seated before the President arrives the venue. He reiterated Rivers State Government’s commitment to guaranteeing a good and memorable Sports Festival many Nigerians would not forget for a long time to come.

He said that the Government’s main reason for hosting the 17th National Sports Festival was to disabuse the minds of Nigerians on the alleged insecurity situation in the state and serve as a means to showcase the cultures, friendship and heritage of the good people of Rivers State. He said the state was safe for all to go about their businesses as additional 10,000 members of the Joint Task Force and other security agencies had been put in place.

The LOC Chairman cautioned the heads of delegation to control their teams, stressing that  “anyone caught by the law will bear the consequences because there is no meeting point between crime and sports.”

He encouraged them to take the games as their own responsibility and act like ambassadors of the festival as he told the delegates that 100 caterers were employed to cook for the athletes who had been given meal tickets.

He added that new pillow cases, mattresses,  two bed sheets, plates, cutlery and cups were also provided for the athletes while additional logistics had also been provided as the LOC had ensured that one bus was given to every state for easy movement.

…. As Igali thumbs up organisers

INSPITE of the various criticisms that have trailed the 17th National Sports Festival (NSF) going on in Port Harcourt, the technical adviser of the Nigeria Amateur Wresting Federation (NAWF) , Dr Daniel Igali has thumbed up Rivers State for hosting the Games which suffered several postponements .

Speaking on Friday at the Indoor Sports Hall of Port Harcourt civic centre,. Dr Igali was excited hosting the National Sports Festival had resulted in the provision of modern wrestling facilities which rolled off yesterday.

He said, “we should give kudos to Rivers State for taking up the challenge of hosting the festival now.

I thought it would have been postponed again till November or December and for them to go with that kind of zeal to host it is very encouraging. The wrestling facilities here are not bad. The only concern now is that we are sharing it with judo. The last day of our competition will see gymnastics start first. That means we might have to rush our competitions to finish earlier, but I am very encouraged by the number of participants , to see 21 people compete in Greco Roman is unheard of.”

Igali maintained that never in the history of the games had such a number been seen in the Greco Roman event. “This means in free style we are looking up 25 participants in each weight class.  We are going to have an upward of about 200 bouts in every style, the Greco roman, free style and women wrestling. So I’m quite impressed by this development”.

He however said that talents discovered from this festival would be nurtured for the 2012; Olympics.