First National Youth Games Set to Begin in Abuja.

More than 4,000 athletes from 33 states (hosts FCT inclusive) of the federation are expected to participate in the maiden National U-17 Youth Games (NYG) in Abuja on Thursday.

The chairman of the Local Organising Committee and Director, Grassroots Sports Development at the National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhassan Yakmut, confirmed this in an interview in Abuja.

Arrangement for competition grounds for the 14 different sports registered for the tournament has been earmarked by the venue and facility committee. Maintenance work has started in earnest to ensure a befitting environment for the competition.

National Youth Games.
National Youth Games.

Arrival date for the games has been fixed for December 5th, screening of athletes to ascertain their true age and school will hold on December 6 and 7, while technical meetings has been scheduled for December 8 when the games will be officially declared open.

Lagos and Ekiti opted out of this year’s competition while Zamfara had indicated interest to participate in the games in spite of its absence at the DRM, Yakmut confirmed.

Nestle Plc will be the official title sponsor of the games and Heritage Bank, the official banker as many other cooperate bodies, associations and Unions have pledged support for the success of the tournament scheduled to end on December 14.