14th November, 2012
Ahead of the 18th National Sports Festival (NSF), the Zamfara State Government announced this week that it will be represented at the fiesta by a contingent of 131.
Team Zamfara are expected to compete in 15 sporting events over the 12-day fiesta, which is being hosted by Lagos State from 27 November to 9 December.
Alhaji Jaafar Ruwan-Dorowa, Special Adviser to Gov. Abdulaziz Yari on Sports, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gusau that of the number, 105 are athletes, to be accompanied by 26 officials.
The events include: Football (Male), Badminton (Male), Basketball (Male); Deaf sports (Male) and Deaf athletics (male).
Others are: female handball event, male para-athletics, men’s para table tennis, Taekwondo and male tennis, traditional sports ‘Langa‘ and ‘Kokowa‘(traditional wrestling), as well as men’s weightlifting.
The adviser, who did not disclose the budget for the games, however, stressed that Gov. Yari had sufficiently funded the contingent for better performance.
“I cannot say how much was approved, but I can assure you that Gov. Abdulaziz Yari has released adequate funds to take care of our athletes and officials at the competition,’’ Ruwan-Dorowa said.
He said that the state was hopeful of winning many medals at the festival because unlike the previous editions, the screening and selection process was devoid of sentiments and political considerations.
“We shopped for the best athletes as we left our camp open for athletes to showcase their talents; we have selected only the very best to represent the state,’’ he said.
Ruwan-Dorowa also said that the contingent had trained vigorously; assuring that ‘Team Zamfara’ would strive to justify the confidence reposed in them by people of the state at the festival.