as 7 states qualify for quarter finals in men’s cycling
Port Harcourt  – Rivers Cycling Coach, Emmanuel  Onosoya,  says  his team will win medals at  the on-going 17th National Sports Festival. The state is fielding 15 cyclists made up of  seven  females and eight  males.

Onosoya told newsmen, yesterday, that the state ‘s cycling team had prepared well for the festival.He said one of  the  cyclists, Edward Osim,  had performed  well in  the men’s 200 m sprint heat which took place at Aggrey road in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
Onosoya said the National Coach, Bashir Mohammed, had  already invited  Osim  to the national camp for trials.

He  also said two male cyclists from the state qualified for the quarter finals of  the men’s 200 m sprint event.
The coach said the team went on a  training tour from Rivers to Akwa Ibom and Cross River and then back to Rivers  as part of  its preparations for the  festival.

“ The tour de niger delta really helped my cyclists, both male and female,  and it impacted  a lot of things into their legs and you can see the expression of it in this 200 meters sprint.

“ You can see how the boy is taking them on.  I think they have qualified for the quarter finals now.

“ We are even saying that the officials should consider the weather of  Port Harcourt and round it it up now,” he said.
“If the game is completed on time, the organisers will have  more time to continue with other cycling events because the weather is unpredictable,”  he added.

Onosoya said the state’s  cycling team had the capability to cause an upset  and win most of the medals in the 15 events in cycling.

7 states qualify for quarter finals in men’s cycling

Seven states have qualified for the quarterfinals of the men’s 200m cycling event in the ongoing 17th. National Sports Festival in Port Harcourt.

The states are Rivers, Imo, Kaduna, Oyo, Edo, Nasarawa and the FCT.
The quarter finals will be held on June 30.

The cycling event is one of the games which began ahead of the opening ceremony of the festival scheduled for July 3, at the Liberation Stadium Port Harcourt.

The men’s 200m sprint heats were decided along Aggrey Road in Port Harcourt.
The Secretary-General, Cycling Federation of Nigeria, Mrs Thecla  Opara, told newsmen  in Port Harcourt, that 13 of the 18 states which reported for the festival took part in the first cycling event.

Cycling has total medal capacity of 15 gold,15 silver and 15 bronze medals.
Opara said the states had been doing well since the cycling event began.

‘’We started with our first race today with the cyclists and presently, we have 18 states that have reported for the festival.
‘’So, our first race was today, 200 meters sprints and it took place at Aggrey Road and we have about 13 states that participated and so far they have been doing very well.

‘’The event has been going very well and I am impressed with the turn out.

“A lot of states were present and hopefully by tomorrow, I know most of them would have reported for the festival, so far, the festival is going very well,” she said.

Opara said the federation would use the festival to discover new talents for future national and international cycling events.