Team Bayelsa will be participating in five team sports at the National Sports Festival which will be held in Abeokuta, Ogun State after the completion of the South South zonal elimination in Benin City, the Edo State capital on Wednesday.
Bayelsa arrived Benin City on Sunday with a total of 218 contingent comprising athletes and officials for the zonal elimination.
Team Bayelsa qualifed in Basketball female, Volleyball male, Abula male and female, Beach Volleyball male and Hockey female but failed to qualify in Football male and female, Handball, Abula mixed double as well as the male Hockey team.
Assessing the performance of the athletes, Director of Sports, Bayelsa State Sports Council, Sir Braveman Wodi, described the outing as a fair performance from the athletes, stating that few of the games were lost by default.
According to him, Bayelsa qualifed in six events out of the ten in the zonal elimination, that preparation for the National Sports Festival has already commenced having qualifed in the zone which he described as the toughest in the country, that there was need to push for gold medals.
Sir Wodi noted that they are working round the clock to ensure that every team is fortified before the games, pointing out that he is optimistic that the athletes would give Bayelsa good representation at the fiesta.
He hinted that team Bayelsa would soon embark on camping immediately after the maiden Niger Delta Sports Festival in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, maintaining that Bayelsa is fully prepared for the National Sports Festival.
