Oyo State Government on Wednesday, rewarded athletes that won gold, silver and bronze medals for the state at the just-concluded 20th National Sports Festival (NSF) in Edo with millions of naira.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Oyo State emerged sixth at the end of the festival with 31 gold, 30 silver and 42 bronze medals.
The state presented 230 athletes, 55 coaches and 44 support officials and personnel for the sports festival, while it participated in 22 events at the festival, both in male and female categories.
Receiving the state contingent at the Executive Chamber of his office, State Secretariat Agodi, Ibadan on Wednesday, Gov Seyi Makinde, commended them for the excellent performance during the sporting events.
The governor announced N500,000 for each of the 31 gold medals won and announced additional rewards of N1million each for two gold medalists to encourage them more.
He also rewarded winners of each of the 30 silver medals with N350,000 while placing N250,000 on each of the 42 bronze medals won.
According to the governor, each of the 55 coaches that participated in the festival will also be rewarded with N500,000.
Makinde assured the state contigent that everything would be done to ensure that the state produced winners of world medals in the nearest future.
Mumini Babalola, a Gold Medalist in Tennis, who spoke on behalf of the athletes, appreciated the state government for its support for sports development in the state.
Babalola appealed to the governor to ensure adequate training and retraining of the coaches and necessary logistics for the athletes.
He advised the state government to put necessary measures in place to ensure that the medalists were not poached by other states for the next National Sports Festival that would hold in Delta state. (NAN)
