By Gracious Akujobi The Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the Under-17 National Youth Games (NYG) has postponed the arrival date of the athletes for the games.
Al-Hassan Yakmut, the chairman of the LOC who disclosed this after the committee met with Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abudullahi, said the new arrival date is now December 6.
He said the shift by one day would enable the committee do last minute clean up at the athletes’ camps.
“We shifted the arrival date by one day to enable us setup the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp, Kubwa,’’ he said.
He explained that the delay in securing the camp was due to an order by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration which barred the public from making use of its facilities.
Yakmut, pointed out that it was the intervention of the Minister of Sports and the NYSC Director General that made the release of the over 5,000 bed-space-camp available.
“The break through about the preparation was the intervention of the Minister of sports and supervising minister of Youths and the interagency collaboration NYSC DG”
“The main games village will be the NYSC camp in Kubwa, while it will be supported by the Civil Defence training centre in Saoka, FCT,’’ Yakmut said.
Yakmut who is also the Director of Grassroots Sports Development in the National Sports Commission (NSC) stated that boxing and taekwondo would take place in the velodrome of the National Stadium Abuja.
He said the basketball, volleyball, handball and tennis would take place at the four outdoor courts in the package `B’ of the stadium, while badminton and handball will take place at the indoor hall.
Weightlifting event will take place at the gymnastic gym, while the FIFA Goal Project football pitch as well as the main bowl and the practice pitch of the National stadium will host the football event,’’ he added.
Zamfara, Lagos and Ekiti states did not register for the games. According to schedule, events would hold in the morning, afternoon and evening depending on how they unfold.
The National Youths Games will come to an end on December 14.
