Team Rivers Storm Lagos With 1,000 Athletes

Rivers State Director of Sports, Daobu Harry, has revealed that no fewer than 1,000 athletes and officials will represent the state at the 18th National Sports Festival, NSF, tagged ‘Eko 2012’.

Harry told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN in Port Harcourt that the state’s athletes were in the final-phase of their camping for the games.

“Apart from football, for which we did not qualify from the zonal elimination, we are going to participate in all events during the festival.

“Some of the events we shall feature in are: athletics, basketball, boxing, chess, gymnastics, hockey cricket and cycling.

“The others include: handball, table tennis, taekwondo, traditional sports, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, scrabble and hockey.

“I hope we will perform well because the state has been working hard to defend the festival title. We have concluded the first and second camping phases and are now in the third and final phase of our preparation”.

“Our victory at the Garden City Games in 2011 was not by mistake or because Rivers hosted. I see the victory as a result of hard work,” Harry said.

The director said he was not envisaging any challenges, but if any came, the state government would tackle it ahead of the festival.

“Gov. Chibuike Amaechi has given ‘Team Rivers’ both moral and financial support in its preparation for the games. Our athletes have been working hard to ensure a successful outing in Lagos, ‘’ he added.