The performance of Team Delta at the National Sports Festival and National Youth Games cannot be hinged on the effort of an individual but on the collective efforts of members of the team especially the Coaches and Athletes.
The Executive Chairman of the Delta State Sports Commission, Chief Tonobok Okowa stated this while receiving an award as the most outstanding Sports Commissioner of the year 2019 in Nigeria from a Lagos based sports media outfit Sky Sports Newspaper.
Chief Okowa said the State had continued to dominate the Nigerian sports sector because the Coaches, athletes and administrators had resolved to give their best towards attaining the heights in the nation’s sports circle. The elated Sports Commission Chairman said that the award would spur him and Team Delta to deliver more laurels to the State asserting that the recognition for hard work is more work.
He also commended the media outfit for the recognition saying that it was heartwarming to note that the efforts being put in by Team Delta was being recognized by people within and outside the country and assured that Team Delta would not relent in its quest to remain the dominant force in Nigerian sports.
Chief Okowa also revealed that the COVID-19 Pandemic had taken its toll on sporting activities stressing that would not deter Team Delta Athletes from taking its rightful place in the nation’s sports sector whenever the Federal Government decided to restart sports in the country.
The Managing Consultant of Sky Sports Newspaper, Mr. Moses Ebahor said the award would have been handed to Chief Okowa during the postponed National Sports Festival in March tagged Edo 2020 saying that the States performance at National events had been eye-catching in the past two decades stressing that it was apt that the efforts of those running the sector be recognized.
Mr. Ebahor said the outfit would also present the Governor of the year on Grassroots Sports development to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa at a later date. He said since emerging as the State Governor in 2015 Governor Okowa had set out to revamp the sports sector especially with the completion of the magnificent Steven Keshi International Stadium Asaba in record time after over a decade of abandonment by successive governments.
The former Special Assistant to the Governor on Sports Development, Mr. Steve Cole was also handed an award as the most outstanding Governors Aid on Sports Development in Nigeria. Present at the occasion was the Director-General of the Delta State Sports Commission, Sir Chris Anazia among other top management staff of the Commission and Sky Sports Newspaper.
Story By Jude Agbeyeke
