No fewer than 11,500 athletes are expected to participate in the 20th edition of the National Sports Festival (NSF) tagged, “Edo 2020” between March 22 and April 1.
The Secretary, Local Organising Committee (LOC), Emmanuel Igbinosa, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Friday.
Igbinosa said the 11,500 athletes from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), would participate in 39 sporting events.
“The figure is just the average we are expecting. The final figure will be gotten after the Delegate Registration Meeting (DRM),” he added.
He also said no fewer than 1000 volunteers would be engaged and deployed to the various centres during the games.
He said aside from the reconstructed Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, 16 other centres in Benin would play host to the various sporting events.
The LOC secretary said the state was prepared to host the best NSF in the history of the country.
He said the opening and closing ceremonies would be beamed live to viewers within and outside the country by MultiChoice, owners of DSTV.
“The 30-day countdown to the games which begins on Saturday will see a lot of awareness on the sporting fiesta within and outside the state,’’ he said.
Edo secured the hosting rights for the games at the closing ceremony of the 19th edition in 2018 in Abuja.
