As the 256-man Team Kaduna contingent to the 2020 National Sports Festival North West Zonal Eliminations depart for Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi state, Governor Nasir el-Rufai has tasked the team to be role models.
El-Rufai, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Kaduna state Ministry of Sports Development, Alhaji Umar Ibrahim and directors of the Ministry, while bidding the team farewell, urged the contingent composed of athletes, technical officials and accompanying staff to make the state proud and pick all qualification tickets on offer for the 2020 National Sports Festival scheduled for Benin City, Edo state.
“The government wants you to be good ambassadors of the state, in terms of your conduct, on and off the field. Yiu must showcase the brand of Kaduna state, which is of excellence, exceeding all possibilities this administration met on ground.”
The Permanent Secretary, said that, “i’m optimistic that with the calibre of athletes in the team, seeing athletes who are so eager to excel, perform and give results, i have no doubt that they will do us proud. All necessary modalities have been a put in place for the contingent to succeed at both the zonal elimination and main Festival. I want all the team sports to feature in the main Games in Benin City.”
The North West Zonal Elimination competition, which would determine the states that will represent the zone in team sports events at the 2020 NSF in Edo state, will kicked off on Tuesday, 21st January, with arrival slated for Monday, and slated to end on Thursday, 23rd January, while departure is billed for Friday, 24th January.
Team Kaduna will be participating in eight team events which include : Cricket (male and female), Football (male and female), Basketball (male and female), Handball (male and female), Hockey (male and female), Volleyball (male and female), Beach volleyball (male and female) and and Rugby (male).
The 2020 National Sports Festival (NSF) is scheduled to hold between March 22 to April 1, 2020, in Benin City, Edo state, with over 8,500 athletes expected to compete for 3,000 medals from 33 sports events.
