Asaba will be agog from today, as the Delta State School Sports Festival organised for primary and secondary schools in the state begins at the Stephen Keshi Stadium.
About 1,500 athletes from public and private primary and secondary would be on parade in the developmental sports fiesta, which takes place between February 5and 7.
The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education was organising this event and the officials at the weekend assured that all was set for the competition, which will run for three days.
Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chiedu Ebie said the festival would be staged like every other big event in the world.
He noted that Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa was committed to the development of young athletes in the state across all spots.
Ebie said: “We have a vision in sports and that is why we are following all the plans we have for the developmental stage, because there is need to always bring up young ones who will be challenging the established athletes at every event. That is the only way to create competition and get the best from these athletes.
“It is also important for us to maintain our number one position in sports in the country and to achieve that, we must not relent.
“The athletes will be competing at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, which hosted the best athletes on the continent last year and this is deliberate. We want to expose them to modern facilities from this stage so that they can have good foundation.”
The events to be competed for are athletics, basketball, volleyball, handball, badminton, tennis, table tennis, chess and scrabble.
Yesterday, the athletes arrived their National Youth Service Corps orientation camp at Issele Uku, but fireworks will begin today in various sports disciplines.