It will be a disservice to Nigerian athletes and what the National Sports Festival stands for if this year’s edition is allowed to play second fiddle to Qatar 2022 World Cup, some stakeholders have said.

The stakeholders, who said the Festival would be overshadowed by the World Cup even though Nigeria is not among the teams in Qatar, advised the Main Organising Committee (MOC) to rethink the decision to hold it within the period of the Coupe Mundial.

The MOC of the National Sports Festival recently announced a change of date for the games, which was originally scheduled to hold from November 2 to November 15, to November 28 to December 10, 2022.

The MOC hinged the change in dates to the fact that there were still ongoing works in various facilities that would host events during the 13-day tournament.

The stakeholders, who pleaded anonymity, said many Nigerians would be engrossed with the World Cup scheduled to begin on November 20 and ends December 18.

“Nigeria will not play at the World Cup, but I know many corporate players have booked their tickets to go to Qatar.

“In this age of viewing centres and several other entertainment programmes that go with the World Cup, holding the National Sports Festival at the same time will take the shine off it.

“It would have been better if the Festival is held after the World Cup; that is, if the event cannot hold as earlier scheduled.

“I am sure that most of the media houses would be trying to devote more space to the World Cup because of the commercial activities that go with it, than they will do with the Festival.”

That is why we are suggesting that the time should be changed,” one of the stakeholders said. (The Guardian)