PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012
PAGE 41
Weekend
Nigeria’s 4x100 relay gold winning team Blessing Okagbare (L), Damola Osayomi, Gloria Asumnu and Agnes Osazuwa at the last All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique.
AFN Golden League 5th leg holds in PH today By Patrick Andrew
T
he tracks will burn today in Port Harcourt, the Garden City and hosts of the 5th leg of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria/Niger Delta Decvelopment Commission Golden League. There, athletes battling for reckoning will take on their counterparts some of who are currently in camp in preparation for the London Olympic Games scheduled for July 27 through August 12. Already, 100m champion Ogho Oghene Egwero, one of the more than a dozen Team Nigeria athletes camping in Atlanta, USA returned to participate in the race. Also, expected to feature in the increasing exciting league are the likes of Josephine Ehigie, Patience Okoro, Tosin Adeloye, Sirika Oluoma, among other upcoming athletes. Besides the grassroots athletes, some of whom were in fine vein of form at the previous legs in Owerri and Abeokuta, as well as those that recently participated at the Ibile Games in Lagos, will vie for honours. Coordinator of the AFN/NDDC Golden League, Yusuf Alli, confirmed that the likes of Blessing Okagbare, Gloria Asunmu, Oludamola Osayomi and all other members of 26 athletes that have secured qualification for the Olympic Games are likely to feature in the race which is an innovative approach by the current leadership of the AFN to up performance. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s London Olympics training camp in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, will be wind-up on Democracy Day, May 29.
The closure of the camp which was opened since March 3, will enable the athletes to return to the country to participate in the final phase of trials in Calabar as well as the African Senior Athletics Championships billed for Porto Novo, Benin Republic. Tony Ohaeri, who confirmed this also disclosed that Delta State has the highest number of athletes that will represent Nigeria in the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. Out of the total 78 athletes who have qualified to represent Nigeria in the two games, Delta State has 12 athletes who will participate in the Olympics. The state is followed by Ogun and Ekiti States who have five athletes each for the Olympics, while Imo State
has four , Edo, Cross, River and Bayelsa have 3 athletes each. Abia, Anambra and Oyo have two each while Adamawa, Benue, Ekiti, Kano, Kwara and Lagos State have one athlete each making a total of 47 athletes for the Olympics. For the Paralympics, out of 31 qualified athletes, Enugu State has the highest number of five athletes, followed by Oyo State with four, Anambra and Imo have three each Abia, Delta, Edo, Ogun each followed with two while Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Bauchi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ondo, Osun and Rivers States have one athlete each in the Paralympic team. On the whole 22 states have athletes in the Team Nigeria for the Olympic/Paralympic Games.
5,000 civil servants for FEPSGA walking, jogging exercise By Albert Akota
N
o few than five thousand civil servants are expected to participate in this month’s Federal Public Service Games, (FEPSGA) walking and jogging exercise. The president of FEPSGA Mr. Victor Orji who disclosed this said that the exercise would witness unprecedented attendance following increased awareness of the essence of physically and mentally fitness among public service officials. “Civil servants in federal ministries, agencies and parastatals have intensified their readiness to troop the national stadium for the mandatory keep fit exercise.
“We are working in conjunction with the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, (SWAN) FCT chapter and National Orientation Agency, (NOA) for the first time in history of FEPSGA, “he said. Among the top personnel expected in today’s exercise are the Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Isah Bello Sali, the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil defence Corps, (NSCDC), Dr Ade Abulorin, the Director General of the Nigeria Tourism Development Cooperation, (NTDC), Otuba Olusegun Runsewe as well as the Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA) Mr. Mike Omeri. Orji urged civil servants resident in Abuja to turn up for the monthly exercise to improve their physical fitness.