Delta State’s hope of sweeping all the sprints medals at the National Sports Festival starting on April 2 in Benin City, has been dealt a blow following the decision of her foreign-based athletes to shun the festival.  

Top Nigerian athletes like Blessing Okagbare, Divine Oduduru, Raymond Ekevwo, Itseoritse Itsekiri and other foreign-based athletes preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games have told the Delta State Sports Commission that they won’t be part of Edo 2020.

“We are going to miss our foreign-based athletes at National Sports Festival. Okagbare, Oduduru, Ekevwo, Itsekiri and other foreign-based athletes are not coming.

“They are preparing for the Olympics Games, which is very important to them and to the country,” said Delta State Sports Commission Chairman, Mr Tonobok Okowa.

However, he added that the development will not deter Delta from maintaining its number position in Nigerian sports.

The Edo’2020 sports fiesta is expected to roll off after suffering several postponements due to COVID-19 concerns.

Vanguard