NAN-S-4
Competition
By Chukwuemeka Opara
Abakaliki, Sept. 16, 2017 (NAN) The Ebonyi Sports Council has blamed stiff competition for the poor outing posted by its athletes at the just-concluded National Youth Games (NYG) in Ilorin.
Emmanuel Utobo, the state’s Director of Sports, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Ilorin that the state has however learnt valuable lessons from its participation in the competition.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ebonyi garnered one gold medal in taekwando and one silver medal in wrestling at the Games.
Its contingent also won one bronze medal in taekwando, in addition to the one gold and one bronze in canoeing which was a demonstration event at the Games.
The result fell below its performance in the competition in 2016 where it garnered two gold, two silver and three bronze medals to finish seventh on the overall medals table.
Utobo said that 31 states participated in this year’s edition as against the 24 participating states in 2016
“This made competition for honours fiercer. Moreover, only 47 athletes represented Ebonyi in nine different sports.
“We tried assiduously to increase our medals haul with participation in badminton and scrabble on Friday,” he said.
Utobo assured that the Sports Council would adequately appraise the state contingent’s outing when the official medals table and other technical reports of the games are released.
“We thank the state government for ensuring that we participated actively in the competition and we pledge to build on the experiences garnered from this outing,” he said.(NAN)
RCO/DOE/OLAL
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(Edited by Dianabasi Effiong and Olawale Alabi)