Basic Education Schools’ Sports Festival enters Day 4 in Abuja

The inaugural edition of the Nigeria Basic Education Schools Sports Festival (BESS 2024) has reached the fourth day as teenage athletes continue to vie for laurels in eight sporting events in Abuja. An elaborate opening ceremony for the grassroots sports festival involving zonal champions from 25 states and the FCT was held over the weekend […]

The inaugural edition of the Nigeria Basic Education Schools Sports Festival (BESS 2024) has reached the fourth day as teenage athletes continue to vie for laurels in eight sporting events in Abuja.

An elaborate opening ceremony for the grassroots sports festival involving zonal champions from 25 states and the FCT was held over the weekend at the Old Parade Ground Sports Centre Garki-Abuja.

In the football matches that followed on Saturday, Ekiti State drew goalless with Bayelsa State, Kaduna thrashed Plateau State 3-1 while Taraba and Osun States settled for another barren draw.

Zamfara State fell 1-2 to Gombe State, FCT suffered a second 0-3 loss to Ekiti State while Kaduna won their second straight match by beating Delta 2-1.

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Taraba edged Nasarawa State 1-0, while Plateau and Gombe State shared the spoils in a thrilling 1-1 draw.

In the volleyball event, Team FCT Boys downed Kaduna State 2 sets to 1 just as Bauchi lost 0-2 to Yobe State.

In Girls Volleyball, Team FCT slumped to a 0-2 defeat, in the hands of Kaduna State who went on to beat Borno State 2-0 for the second win in as many games, on the same day.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Protocol Committee, Madaki Bitrus Yamai, said after a thorough screening to ascertain their age, athletes were accommodated in secure facilities for the event that is scheduled to last for 11 days.

Apart from football, the teenage athletes are competing for laurels in athletics, table tennis, handball, volleyball, Ayo, and Scrabble.