Joel Ajayi

A major objective of the Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF) sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDCC) may have yielded instant fruits with the identification of a number of young athletes in football, table tennis, wrestling, athletics and some other events.

This is a direct outcome to the engagement of over 20 coaches, retired elite athletes, and scouts who have been on ground to scout potentials expected to be groomed and honed to international stardom.

Francis Sule,  a former Nigeria table tennis captain, and now, a grass roots coach believes he has spotted promising talents at the festival.

“I am very impressed with what I have seen on the ground so far. Numerous talents abound in the Niger Delta Region, and I can confidently show you the athletes that will replace Funke Oshinaike, Aruna Quadri, and Bose Kaffo in this festival.”

Sule, who is a member of the Scouting and Mentorship committee of the Niger Delta Sports Festival, further explained to the NDSF media unit that he was overjoyed with the standard of play from the young athletes.

 ” I have selected young boys and girls who met the criteria for subsequent nurturing and developmental programmes.”

Also sharing his experience at the festival as one of the scouts, Paul Omamomo who is a FIFA licensed football scout said “We’re faced with the daunting task of picking the very best from the NDSF because of the unbelievable talents that myself, Victor Ikpeba and the other football scouts have seen here. So I can confidently say that we’ve found the new Austin Okocha, Daniel Amokachi, Sunday Oliseh and many more”. 

Olympian and United States based Gabriel Opuana told social media Influencer, Chief Suo that he has identified a Shotput thrower but declined to name her.

“There is a girl that has shown very good potential and I’ll be speaking with her after her event. Now is not the right time to let her know she is good as it may distract her, but I’ll speak to her after their final throw”, Opuana said in a Facebook live post.

Olympics silver medalist in wrestling, Blessing Oborududu who is in Uyo as one of the Games Ambassador, and doubles as a scout has no doubt in her mind that replacements for her and many others have been discovered at the NDSF. 

“What gladdens my heart is that this competition has thrown up young athletes who will replace me and the others. I want to thank the Niger Delta Development Commission for doing this for the kids of this region”.

For Mary Onyali, one of the festival Celebrity Sports personalities, there is cause for celebration “because what we’ve clamored for over the years is finally being done by the NDDC. I want to thank them for this innovation, thank you NDSF for giving us a platform to identify the country’s future athletes. I can beat my chest and say that future athletes have been discovered here and I’m excited”. 

Meanwhile, the chairman of the scouting and mentorship committee, Godwin Enakhena, has commended the NDDC for this initiative. “The NDDC deserves our commendation for doing this for the Niger Delta Region.

The NDSF is timely because of the poor state of sports developmental in Nigeria.

This is one of its kind for a sports festival. What is uniquely different is that the plan is not to leave this meticulous task for the states but we have assembled the best hands to identify,  nuture, encourage and promote these athletes in every way we can in achieving the over all goal of the NDDC for sports in the Niger Delta region and Nigeria as a whole.”

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