The 6th edition of Kaduna State Sports Festival, which will be organised for the first time in 10 years, will begin on March 2.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the festival, which was earlier scheduled for February 24, could not commence as planed due to funding issues.
The state Commissioner for Sports Development, Professor Kabir Mato, said that the sports festival would now hold on March 2 and over 5, 000 athletes and officials would participate.
According to him, the ministry is perfecting strategies to ensure the comfort of both athletes and officials throughout the event.
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Mr Mato said that the festival was aimed at identifying talents from the grassroots for effective participation of Kaduna State at the National Sports Festival and other national competitions.
The commissioner added that the athletes will compete for laurels in 16 events including football, basketball, volleyball, handball, table-tennis, hockey and cycling.
He said that the one-week fiesta would offer a good platform for expressing and implementing the state’s sporting programmes at the grassroots levels, one of the cardinal objectives of Governor Nasir El Rufai’s administration.
NAN
