Delta State kept top spot on the 19th National Sports Festival’s medals table into the last weekend of events, with a strong hint that the team from Asaba could end as number one on Sunday.
Sports247.ng reports that Team Delta showed no sign of slowing down, with another haul of medals on the podium on Thursday and Friday, as they cornered a mammoth haul of 176 medals in total.
Delta, which won the festival title at Bauchi 2000, Abuja 2004, Gateway 2006, Kada 2009 and Eko 2012, entered Friday’s run of events with 85 gold, 38 silver and 53 bronze.
That was a sudden change to the tide that was ignited on the opening day, when Team Rivers jumped to the first position on the medals table after picking the first gold in the cycling event.
Rivers, who won the festival on home soil in 2011, were then pushed to second position with 36 gold, 35 silver and 38 bronze medals, while Edo were third with 20 gold, 24 silver and 27 bronze medals.
Kano, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Oyo, Lagos and FCT followed in that order; but Delta State’s contingent appeared to be boosted to finish top of the medals table at the end of the festival on Sunday by the promise of their governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, to dole out N1m for each gold medal.
