Stephen Dunmoye
The Bayelsa ladies has opened the athletics event of the 21st National Sports Festival with gold medal as the event kick started on Sunday at the the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba.
Asado Quensly of Bayelsa ladies in the 20km walk on Sunday morning finished 2:10.21 to hand them the gold medal, Danladi Nanlop of Plateau walked 2:11.25 to secure silver, while Faustina Ogwu of Delta and Raheem Rukayat (Edo) walked 2:13.31 and 2:37.48 to finish third and fourth respectively.
An unfortunate occurence was the withdrawal of Edo’s Florence Idahosa, who withdrew due to the weather conditions in Asaba.
The newly installed tarrtan tracks at the stadium takes centre stage with a total of 42 events lined up in the category.
Athletics has always been the dominant sports at the sports festival since the maiden edition in 1973 and there are a total of 162 medals up for grabs in the event.
