Gateway Games: Over 15,000 athletes chase 2,150 medals

After several postponements, the delayed 2024 National Sports Festival (NSF), which is Nigeria’s version of the Olympics, is set to begin in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. At stake is a whopping 2,150 medals (626 gold, 626 silver and 898 bronze) to be competed for by over 15,000 athletes from the 36 states and the […]

After several postponements, the delayed 2024 National Sports Festival (NSF), which is Nigeria’s version of the Olympics, is set to begin in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. At stake is a whopping 2,150 medals (626 gold, 626 silver and 898 bronze) to be competed for by over 15,000 athletes from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Interestingly, a new set of athletes called “Invited Junior Athletes (IJA), a novel project of the new National Sports Commission (NSC), will join the fray as the 38th state to vie for the available medals.

Invariably, the sports festival offers the budding athletes the opportunity to compete against the more experienced athletes. This is no doubt a golden chance for them to cause upsets and showcase their talents on a stage that is bigger than the National Youth Games (NYG) where they are drawn from.

Of course, if the youngsters are able to overcome stage fright and compete favourably against their older opponents, then the next generation of Team Nigeria athletes would have been discovered for grooming for future exploits.

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So, since yesterday, the enthusiastic athletes and officials from the 36 states and the FCT have continued to troop into Abeokuta with one thing in mind – to compete and win laurels. Expectedly, the ancient city is right now in a carnival mood with a lot of activities taking place at the upgraded MKO Abiola Sporting Complex – the main venue for the games.

Already, 549 events have been lined up by the organisers of the multi-sport event, which started in 1973 to heal the wounds of the Nigerian civil war and serve as a talent hunting ground.

Therefore, at the Gateway Games, which Ogun State is hosting for the second time in 18 years, athletes will compete in individual and team events like wrestling, weightlifting, table tennis, football, volleyball, beach volleyball, swimming, handball, basketball, karate, Taekwondo, golf, badminton, squash, tennis, hockey, chess, scrabble, boxing, kickboxing, and traditional sports, among others.

Furthermore to ensure inclusivity, physically challenged athletes will have the opportunity to compete in special events like para athletics, para table tennis, wheel-chair basketball, deaf athletics, powerlifting, and deaf table tennis, clearly demonstrating Nigeria’s commitment to the promotion of para sports.

 

Bayelsa aims to end Team Delta’s invincibility

As the Gateway Games come alive, special attention will be paid to the emerging rivalry between perennial champions, Delta State and Bayelsa State. In recent editions of the ‘Nigerian Olympics,’ Delta State, which boasts of some of the best sporting facilities in the country, has remained a dominant force, winning all but one out of the last eight editions and relegating once heavyweights like Lagos, Edo and Rivers State to the background.

However, Bayelsa State, under the guidance of a one-time Olympics champion, Daniel Igali, who is serving as the commissioner for sports development, has not only become a force to reckon with but a major threat to Delta State’s continued dominance.

Bayelsa State recently sent out strong warning to other competitors, especially Delta, Edo and Rivers states when they stunned their arch-rivals to come tops at the maiden edition of the Niger Delta Sports Festival in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

Bayelsa topped the medals table winning 42 gold, 29 silver and 15 bronze medals ahead of Delta State, who had 41 gold, 26 silver and 32 bronze medals. The margin of victory was small, but it was a loud statement about Bayelsa’s readiness to flex muscles with even more illustrious opponents in future competitions.

The weeklong festival, which attracted over 3,000 athletes from the 9 Niger Delta states who competed in 17 sports, was sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Meanwhile, Bayelsa State, in the past three editions of the NSF, claimed second and third positions respectively, a development that has inspired many sports enthusiasts in the state to believe that Gateway Games is a must-win for Team Bayelsa.

 

Silent sports revolution in Bayelsa

For years, Bayelsa has been investing time, energy and resources into discovering and nurturing young sports talents at the grassroots for exploits locally and internationally.

It is, therefore, not accidental that Bayelsa is at the moment dominating most of the sports in the country, such as wrestling and swimming. The dominance of the state in wrestling is not surprising because apart from the talents that abound in Bayelsa, the commissioner for sports and president of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Igali, who is leading the sports revolution, is an Olympic champion in wrestling. He won a gold medal for Canada at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

More so, he has made his private wrestling gym in Yenagoa available for the training of athletes for national and international competitions, a gesture that has helped to produce star wrestlers for the state, including Blessing Oboroduru, who currently ranked as the world number two woman wrestler in the world and also the first wrestler to win an Olympic medal representing Nigeria at the Olympics. She is also a twelve-time African champion from 2010 to 2023.

In addition, the state has produced Mercy Genesis, a 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medalist and many other outstanding wrestlers who have continued to inspire the upcoming ones.

Only recently, four Bayelsa State female wrestlers represented Nigeria and won four gold medals at the African Senior Wrestling 

Championship in Casablanca, Morocco. Hannah Reuben, Mercy Genesis, Ebipatei Mughenbofa, Ebi Biogos, Stephen Izolo, all won gold for Nigeria, while Ebikeme Newlife settled for silver and Ebierelayefa Andrew secured bronze

In appreciation of their outstanding performances, the state hosted the victorious athletes and doled out cash rewards to motivate them to excel in future competitions.

In football, the Governor’s Cup, otherwise known as ‘Prosperity Cup,’ is helping to push good football talents into the Nigerian league and other leagues in the world, as some of the products of the tournament are already playing professional football in Europe.

It is also worthy to note that a few hours before the state contingent left for the Gateway Games, Governor Douye Diri inaugurated a world class ultra-modern table tennis facility called the “Coastal Fortress” in Yenagoa, the state capital. It is a state-of-the-art facility built by Ama-Ebi Ebikpolade Stow, the chairman of the Bayelsa State Table Tennis Association to give the athletes a befitting training facility.

Apart from encouraging the growth of table tennis in the state, the gesture by the association chairman has underscored the fact that Bayelsa State is not a one-sport state even as it is renowned for excellence in wrestling.

Meanwhile, Olympian Igali, in an exclusive interview with Weekend Trust Sports, said his desire was to help Nigeria win Olympic gold medal in wrestling; hence his passion for grooming young talents. 

He, however, regretted that before now, Nigeria did not have that system and is not prepared to nurture that system that brings out the best in the athletes.

 

Delta remains the team to beat

Bayelsans are in bubbly spirits ahead of the Gateway Games, but a look at the last eight editions of the NSF shows that Delta is not going to be a push-over.

If they must dethrone Delta State, which has won seven of the last eight editions – three consecutive titles from 2004 to 2009 and four consecutive titles from 2012 to 2022, which hosted and won with 320 gold, 200 silver and 128 bronze medals – Team Bayelsa must be ready to do something extraordinary to achieve their ambition of a first-ever NSF title.

Moreover, in view of the fact that only one gold medal gave them victory over Delta at the NDSF in Uyo, it will be foolhardy for Bayelsa to go to sleep now that an opportunity has come for them to cut Delta to size.

However, Gateway Games is not only about the rivalry between Delta and Bayelsa as other strong competitors like Lagos, Edo and Rivers who have fallen down the pecking order might spring surprises.

Therefore, for the next two weeks, attention will be on the Gateway state, where some of the most talented Nigerian youths have converged to compete for sporting laurels and to enhance the country’s existing peace and unity.