A 140-man contingent from Ebonyi departed Abakaliki on Wednesday to participate in the Edo 2020 National Sports Festival South-East elimination taking place in Owerri.
Emmanuel Utobo, Ebonyi State Director of Sports, made this known in Abakaliki in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said that the zonal elimination would commence on Thursday, Jan. 23,while the contingent consisted of 120 athletes and 20 officials.
“Ebonyi will participate in four team events namely: football (male and female), volley ball (male and female), basket ball (male and female) and cricket (male and female).
“We have prepared adequately for the competition and with the complement of our individual-sports athletes who gained direct participation to Edo 2020, we are optimistic of resounding successes,” he said.
Utobo expressed optimism that Imo the host state, would provide the participating teams with conducive atmosphere to compete favourably.
Charles Akpuenika, Ebonyi Commissioner for Youth and Sports, thanked the state governor for graciously approving funds for the state’s contingent to participate in the zonal elimination series.
“All arrangements for the successful participation of our athletes at the competition have been made and the contingent is in high spirits.
“We urge the athletes to justify the huge investments on them and sports in general by the government,” Akpuenika said.
He announced that the state could not host the zonal elimination hitherto awarded to it because of insufficient time to prepare.
“We duly informed the zonal sporting authorities of the development which made it shift the hosting to Imo.
“We are optimistic of hosting future zonal and national events as the government has provided state-of-the art facilities to ensure successful hosting of competitions,” Akpuenika said. (NAN)
