Hostilities Begin At Lagos Tertiary Games

The attention of stakeholders and sports lovers  will be shifted to the ‘Centre of Excellence’  as the 3rd edition of the Lagos Tertiary Games get underway at seven venues spread across the Lagos metropolis.

The venues are Teslim Balogun Stadium, which will host athletics events and football finals; Yaba College of Technology will play host to Basketball and a group of football matches and  Bar Beach behind Federal School of Fisheries and  Marine Technology  on Lagos Island will host Beach Volleyball and Beach Soccer

Others are University of Lagos which will host a group of Football matches, Table Tennis and Volleyball, while Legacy Pitch of the National Stadium, Surulere and Onilkan Stadium will host another groups of football matches.

According to the Games Chart released by the Local Organising Committee, LOC, of the championship headed by Prince Wale Oladunjoye, Table Tennis events began yesterday, while Beach Soccer and Beach Volleyball will start tomorrow in order to allow the organisers to make the venue athletes friendly.

The finals of Table Tennis will hold on Saturday, 19 November. Beach Volleyball and Beach Soccer finals  will hold on Sunday, 20 November. Volleyball finals are scheduled for Tuesday, 22 November.

The finals of Basketball events are on Wednesday, 23 November, while athletics and football finals will be staged during the final ceremonies on Friday, 25 November at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

Seventeen tertiary institutions out of 19-federal/state/private- in the state, are jostling for the N9.625m prize monies to be won in  seven sports during the 10-day championship, which is facilitated by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant on Grassroots Sports Development to the Governor and the Ministry  of Sports.

The LOC said that as usual the prize monies, will be directly disbursed to the lucky students through their institutions.

In addition to the prize monies, the preparation support of N3.250m is being paid to the 17 institutions depending on the numbers of athletes they are featuring in the Tertiary Games.

For instance, Lagos State Polytechnic with 114 athletes got the sum of N311,606.39, Yaba College of Technology with 97athletes got N265,138.77, Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology with 96 athletes got N262,405.38, University of Lagos with 112 athletes got  N306,139.6, Nigerian Institute of Journalism, NIJ with 24 athletes got N65,601.43, Nigerian Army School of Finance and Administration with 60 athletes got N164,003.36, Federal College of Education (Technical) Akoka with 102 athletes got N278,805.71.

The LOC disclosed that full list of preparations support grants for the participating institutions, sports involved and number of athletes will be made available soon.

About 1189 students/athletes have been registered by the 17 participating institutions for the tournament.