By Yusuf Mutiu-Olaitan
September 7th, 2024
The 8th National Youth Games starts in Asaba on Sunday 10th, September 2024, and Kwara contingents are departing the state on Monday, 9th, 2024.
Coach Bola Mogaji, Executive Chairman of Kwara State Sports Commission,, gave the breakdown of the preparation of athletes going to fly the flag of Kwara at the National Youth Games. He revealed that 144 athletes will represent the state in 24 events at the championship in Asaba.
“Kwara athletes are ready and in high spirits. We have made preparations to depart for the championship on Monday morning and I believe the athletes are pumped to represent the state. We’ll be participating in nothing less than 24 games this time, and I’m confident we are going to do better than the 5th position we achieved last year, which remains the highest honor for Team Kwara in the history of the National Youth Games. We have other games where we have the strength to win medals for the state and we’ll do the state proud.”
Coach Mogaji revealed that Kwara will not be participating in football at the championship, stating that the lack of a sponsor is the sole reason.
“We were supposed to engage in the elimination round for the football event, we wrote to the State Football Association and State Government, but it didn’t yield any results, and it was compulsory for every football team to participate in National Youth Games to go through the elimination face which we didn’t fulfill.” He said.
In his final words, the chairman appreciated the Governor of Kwara State, Mallam Abdulrahman AbdrulRazaq, for his immense support for the development of sports in Kwara, especially towards the welfare of athletes going to represent the State in Asaba. He concluded.
Coach Bola Mogaji promised to motivate athletes who go on to win gold, silver, and bronze medals with N10,000, N7,000, and N5,000, respectively.
Kwara contingents will participate in Athletics, Swimming, Squash, Scrabble, Basketball, Table Tennis, Boxing, Chess, Cricket, Badminton, Rugby, Para Table Tennis, Weightlifting, Dart, Judo, Karate, and other games.