The Minister of Sports Sunday Dare deserves huge commendation for his presence at the just concluded 21st National Sports Festival. He visited many of the event venues and it is on record that despite the challenge of COVID-19 for close to two years, two National Sports Festivals were hosted during his stewardship just as the Delta 2022 ended with encomiums as it was adjudged one of the best in history.

We are aware the minister also seized the opportunity to meet with state commissioners of sports and the Director of Sports to fashion a template for the country’s sports through the National Sports Industry Policy. This, we believe, has been the missing link in the country’s sports administration. The host state, Delta State is the defending champions and from day one in Asaba, Delta has been number one on the medals’ table such that no other state came close in terms of acquisition of medals. It was no surprise that Delta won the games to retain the overall title won at Edo 2020.

The facilities provided by Delta were top-notch, especially the world-class hockey arena which has over 80 rooms and camping facilities aside from the astro turf pitch of the arena. “The Hockey Arena is the legacy of this event and we are so proud of that. We are going to keep the arena in good standard like other facilities provided for the games,” Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Patrick Ukah said. Ukah added that the opening and closing ceremonies were simply entertaining as a result of the hard work of the LOC aimed at telling a Nigerian story. It is important to stress that the role of the national scouts in identifying budding talents is key at the games.

The raw talents in Asaba will have to be exposed and encouraged to get to their best in their respective sport disciplines. Nigeria has talents hidden in many areas but to bring them out or even plan for them to achieve transition has been a big issue. Delta 2022 has been very fascinating and despite the presence of some elite Grade A athletes, their home-based counterparts still stood up to be counted. So much money was spent on facilities but to utilise this to our advantage is very key such that that maintenance is not a difficult issue after the games. We make bold to say Nigeria is not lacking in talents in many of the sports disciplines the country takes part in. The problem has always been how to identify and harness the talents to prepare them for continental and global challenges.

The administrators do not have a template to work with over the years to take the promising talents to another level. And so at the end, the 21st National Sports Festival brought out various sides of the Nigerian athletes in terms of skills, endurance, exposure and discipline. The competition threw up surprises each day with a national record created in the Men’s 200m Freestyle swimming. Collins Obi from Bayelsa State was the cynosure of all eyes after erasing a nine-year-old record of 1:59.20 created by Samson Forcados of Delta State in 2013. The new record holder swam to the finish point in 1:57.76 to win the gold.

The old record was set as far back in 1975 by John Ebito of Lagos State. National athlete, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, was glorious in the hammer event. His inclusion on the list came as a surprise and he went ahead to set a new national record in the event after throwing a distance of 67.45m to win the gold medal for Delta State. The previous record of 66.92m was achieved 36 years ago by Christian Okoye and the US-based athlete said he consulted with Okoye two days before competing and he was happy breaking the record. Oyesade Olatoye also won gold in the women’s shot put event just as Esther Nwogu broke a world record in the women’s powerlifting event with her 115kg effort.

Tima Godbless won 100m women’s gold with a time of 11.32secs to emerge the country’s fastest woman. She is still a junior athlete and has announced herself to be ready for the world while Adekalu Fakorede won the men’s 100m event with a time of 10.25secs. The wrestling event was also interesting with relatively unknown wrestlers competing for honours in the presence of national coach Purity Akuh and Wrestling Federation boss, Daniel Igali.

It is important to state that Delta 2022 was a good event that should spur national coaches and national scouts to bring out the best in the hidden talents in the country. There are many of the athletes who could grow to become another Tobi Amusan for Nigeria. Under three years after taking part in the National Youth Games and the National Sports Festival, Amusan exploded to become one of the best athletes in the world. We expect similar things could happen if the appropriate measures were taken in Asaba, Delta State.