Ibadan the Oyo State capital has been picked to host the South-West zonal elimination competition for the 18th National Sports Festival (NSF). Lagos State, hosts of the event will also participate in the competition on a non-scoring basis, an official has disclosed.
The Zonal Co-ordinator of the South-West Zone in the National Sports Commission, Steve Olarinoye revealed this yesterday. “The decisions were part of the resolutions reached at the meeting between me as the Zonal Co-ordinator and the South-West Zone One General Manager as well as the Directors of Sports in states in the zone. The meeting was held on July 19 at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan, where various issues pertaining to the zonal elimination competition for team sports towards the 18th NSF tagged `Eko 2012’ were discussed. Ibadan in Oyo State was confirmed as the host state for the competition, with the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium and Lekan Salami Stadium as the venues,’’ he disclosed. The National Sports Festival is slated for Nov. 27 to Dec. 9 in Lagos.
Lagos State will field athletes in all events earmarked for the festival in spite of having qualified for the team events as hosts. “The meeting unanimously agreed to allow Lagos State take part in the elimination series. But their participation is going to be on a non-scoring basis since they were not expected to participate as hosts of the festival,’’ he said.
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