SportsDay 12, Sports Fiesta: Team Delta Dominates As Curtain Falls

Day 12, Sports Fiesta: Team Delta Dominates As Curtain Falls

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BEEVRLY HILLS, April 14, (THEWILL) – The thrills and frills of the sports fiesta that has been the 20th edition of the National Sports Festival (NSF), which finally got underway in Benin City on Good Friday, April 2 after a series of COVID-19 enforced postponements, will wrap up today, April 14 with a closing ceremony headlined by the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, at the main bowl of the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium venue of the Games.

After seizing control of the leadership of the medals table from the onset, Team Delta tenaciously held on, stayed competitive throughout and is going to end the fiesta atop the medals table. Consequently, they will be declared overall champions upon the conclusion of the Games.

In the latest capture of the standings on the table, Team Delta sits comfortably on all medal categories but for a two-medal difference with second-placed Team Edo in the Silver medal category. As things stand, Delta State garnered a sum of 139 gold, 98 silver and 92 bronze medals to reach a leading total of 329 medal haul.

Glo

Though the final day medals have not all been accounted for in a few events, the unassailable lead at the top implies there will be no one catching up or even overtaking the incredible work done by the team from Delta State but the hosts will be proud of their athletes. Team Edo may have desired to win as hosts but their Team gave a remarkable account of themselves.

The remaining events on this final day of competition are the mixed relays, 4x100m and 4x400m for men and women.

Finishing a close second, Team Edo earned, as at the latest results, a total of 309 medals, only 20 short of the impressive Team Delta. Of the 309, 118 were gold, 100 silver, which was two more than that of Team Delta, and 91 bronze medals.

Completing the top three, Teams Delta and Edo were followed by a Team from another Niger Delta State, Team Bayelsa, whose record-setting swimmer Ifiaezibe Gbagbe, who won 15 medals, eight of which were gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze to finish as the best individual athlete of the fiesta. Those medals helped Team Bayelsa to 50 gold, 49 silver and 55 bronze medals to finish with a sum of 154 medals in third place.

Team Delta will be setting a record when they are crowned champions as it will be the sixth time they have emerged champions at the national sports fiesta. In Abuja, for the 19th Games, Team Delta claimed an unprecedented 163 gold medals, 88 silver and 101 bronze medals to beat the other participating teams to the number one position after 10 days of action at the country’s capital city.

Interestingly, Delta State’s first National Sports Festival triumph came in the 2004 edition of the biennial Games hosted in Abuja as well.

In a statement detailing the organisation of the closing ceremony and signed by Musa Ebomhiana, the Project Manager, Media and Communications, Edo 2020, it is scheduled to be a three-hour long occasion, from 6pm to 9pm, where the Vice-President, who could not make the opening ceremony as a result of poor flight weather, will declare the Games closed.

To light up the ceremony, some professional music acts such as Franchize, Joeboy and Teni will perform live at the closing ceremony, just as there will be a parade by athletes themselves.

When all the festivities are concluded, the Torch of Unity, which was lit at the start of the Games and dates back to the novel idea of the fiesta from inception, would be extinguished until the next edition, the 21st begins.

The otherwise successful hosting of the Games was tainted by a few ugly experiences, which overall did not mar the fiesta but could have been done without. For instance, threats by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) to prematurely end the games were unsavoury just as the protests that followed the final of the women’s football event where the Lagos women’s football team and their fans protested their final 1-0 defeat to hosts Edo.

Again, there was the case of Team Ogun rejecting the result of the fight between their boxer Kasali Abayomi and Lagos boxer, Shittu Afolabi.

In all, the Edo State government kept to its promise of delivering a commendable organisation of the Games and deserve some pat on the back and some censure for the actions of the LOC but they must now build on these successes and improve where the need for improvement requires it to make Sports the business it is and begin to reap from the rewards it promises.

About the Author

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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

Jude Obafemi, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

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