NAN, NTA clash as FCT SWAN Week sports competition begins Friday

The 2017 FCT SWAN Week gets underway on Friday with the Five-A-Side football team of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) taking on their Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Abuja Channel 5 counterparts.

In the draws made on Wednesday in Abuja at the FCT Sports Council, Hot FM will also face FRCN in the second match of the day, immediately after the opening match.

The opening match is scheduled for 9 a.m., with all the matches taking place at the Area 3 sports pitch.

The third match of the day will see Kiss FM facing the Cool/Wazobia/NaijaInfo team, while the final match of the opening day is between Independent Television (ITV) and NTA Headquarters.

The four winners are to advance to the semi-final round, with the third-place and final matches slated for Nov. 23.

NAN reports that the table tennis (male and female) and draught events have also been scheduled to get underway on Friday at 9 a.m. at the Old Parade Ground.

Mike Oboh, Chairman of the Week’s Organising Committee, told newsmen at the ceremony heralding the competition that teams from 10 media houses would take part.

“We had expected participation from about 24 media houses, but only 10 media houses will be actively participating in the three sports events,’’ he said.

Oboh however thanked the FCT SWAN Executive Committee for putting in place all the needed support to make the planning process a success.

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Also speaking, Kayode Adeniyi, the Chairman of FCT SWAN, said he was confident the Week would be the best in all ramifications.

Adeniyi, who urged participants to be committed towards making the event colourful, thanked Yusuf Ahmed “Fresh’’, an Executive Committee member of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), for his support for the Week.

In the same vein, Dilichukwu Onyedinma, Acting Director of Sports in the FCT, promised to continue to support all sports development activities in the territory.

Onyedinma particularly expressed interest in the FCT SWAN programme, which she said was very vital to sports development in FCT.

NAN reports that the Week is an annual event of the FCT Chapter of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), with sports journalists operating in the FCT free to take part.

The Week is usually lined up with activities such as keep-fit exercise, sports competitions, lecture/sensitisation programme and awards night.

This year’s edition is however a modified one, with Five-A-Side football and draught added to the usual table tennis event in the sports competition.

The media briefing/unveiling of sponsors, which was organised to herald the Week, witnessed the unveiling of four sets of jerseys for the four semi-finalists in the football competition.

The trophies for the football event, which were donated by Ahmed, as well as the table tennis event’s trophies, were also unveiled at the occasion.