The chairman, Accreditation sub-committee for the 19th National Sports Festival, Dr Emmanuel Igbinosa has given more insights into the expected number of athletes and officials to participate in the Games.
In a chat with Daily Trust, Igbinosa, who is also a deputy director in the sports ministry, stated that over 14,000 athletes and officials have registered for the Festival, but judging from past experience, not more 8,500 will participate.
“It is difficult now to state the exact number of athletes now, but I know that more than 1,4000 athletes and officials were registered with Delta states having about 1,600. But judging from past festivals, we will be having not more than 8,500 athletes and officials,” he said.
He further stated that there is an ongoing Delegation Registration Meeting (DRM) for all the states and FCT that will be participating in the festival which ends 19th of November, “though we have a window of 2 extra days in case of spill overs”.
He was however confident that the FCT to host a successful Sports Festival, which will start on December 6 and end on December 16.
Meanwhile, the federal sports ministry has announced the closure of the Abuja National Stadium from this week to allow for proper cleaning and maintenance ahead of the Festival.
