Rivers State Government to host State Sports Festival in 2018

In a bid to develop sports in Rivers State, reappointed Rivers State Sports Commissioner, Hon. Boma Iyaye has stated the need to revive the state sports festival.

The state sports festival unifies athletes within the age of 15-25 years from the 23 local government areas competing for honours in various sporting events.
Hon. Iyaye indicated this during a media parley with Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, Rivers State chapter on Monday.

“We are looking at the possibility to host another Sports festival in the State. We had one about 10 years ago and since then we have not had any other. The state is thinking by 2018 we should be able to have another state sports festival which we tag ‘Unity Games’ to make sure we go back to the grassroots and fetch talents especially from the communities in the next 6months or 1 year.”

At the just concluded National Youth Games in Ilorin, Delta State finished first after gathering 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze medals, team Akwa Ibom came second with 16 gold, 15 silver and 15 bronze medals, while Ondo State finished third with 12 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze medals.

Hon. Iyaye wants the state to emulate the sporting culture practiced by other states so as to yield results in future competitions.

“Akwa Ibom came second which means whatever they have been doing is working out for them. There is nothing wrong copying from neighbouring states if they are doing the right thing. Cross River also host their Sports festival yearly, we will also see if it will be possible to host ours yearly,” Iyaye said.