National Youth Games To Go Ahead Despite Covid 19

National Youth Games To Go Ahead Despite Covid 19

By Niyi Busari

Director, Grassroots Sports Development, Dr. Ademola Are has said that the 2020 National Youth Games will still hold in Ilorin.

The National Youth Games is a yearly competition meant to facilitate the discovery of budding talents in the country for further development and a platform for selection of athletes to represent the country at international youth games.

However, with emergence of Coronavirus, sports has been the worst hit with many competitions postponed or cancelled across the world. The National Sports Festival, a biannual competition has also suffered postponement due to the pandemic.

Director of Grassroots Sports, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Dr Ademola Are has stated that the competition will go ahead despite the dreaded pandemic ravaging the nation.

Dr Ademola Are who spoke exclusively to www.exclusiveness.com.ng said modalities for hosting a competition of this magnitude have been released by the International Olympic committee, IOC, and the sports ministry is ready to follow it to the latter.

"We understand the dangers inherent in hosting a competition of this magnitude but we are not novice when it comes to organising competition of this nature, we have set machinery in motion that will keep all athletes safe during the competition and also ensure that all administrators and officials adhere to the rules and regulations before, during and after the game."

"You also must not forget that the sports minister is a man of conscientious planning and he does not presumptuously jump into doing anything without taking a critical look at the positives and negatives."

Dr Ademola went ahead to praise the honourable minister of youth and sports, Sunday Dare for all the innovations he has brought into sports with less than a year in office.

"He has been a blessing to sports, within few months in office he has come up with creative ideas that has helped the ministry, for instance the covid 19 palliative fund he was able to get from the private sector for Nigerian athletes even before the international body thinks of it or is it the adopt-a- athlete initiative that has received world wide commendations and so many programs for Nigerian youth."

"He is a man that knows his onions and he has been a blessing to the ministry and Nigeria at large."

The national youth games was initially scheduled for 7th to 17th September, 2020 but due to covid 19 a new date will now be announced in line with covid 19 protocols for national sports festival.