Delta imports ‘Birmingham Commonwealth Games tartan track’ for Stephen Keshi Stadium

The 3000 steeple chase is among events listed for Asaba 2022 National Sports Festival, which begins… on November 28.<br />PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

• Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon to boost Games

To give Delta 2022 National Sports Festival the best it deserves in terms of facilities, Delta State has pulled out all the stops to ensure that only top-quality equipment is deployed for the Games.

One such facility is the tartan tracks, which, according to the organisers, are of the topmost quality.

According to the organisers, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has imported the same type of tartan track used at the Birmingham 2022 Co Commonwealth Games in England to be installed at the Stephen Keshi stadium in Asaba.    The 21st National Sports Festival, tagged Delta 2022, will go ahead as scheduled, from November 28 to December 10.   A joint technical meeting, involving the Main Organising Committee (MOC), the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and other stakeholders of the event, was held in Asaba on Friday, where the participants, including Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, took a tour of facilities. 

“I am sure our athletes will set more national records at the Delta 2022 National Sports Festival,” the LOC official said.   Apart from the re-laying of the tartan, Okowa is putting in place two brand new indoor sports halls for the Games, just as the old indoor hall is being renovated. 

Meanwhile, Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, has boasted that Asaba 2022 would go down in history as a great showpiece in Africa, saying the organisers have invited three countries, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroun to participate in the fiesta.

Speaking at the weekend in Asaba while addressing a joint technical meeting of the Asaba 2022 Main Organising Committee (MOC)