Duro Ikhazuagbe 

Delta State’s Favour Ashe clocked 10.16 secs  to win the Men’s 100m event and become the fastest male athlete at the maiden Niger Delta Sports Festival in Uyo. 

Bayelsa’s duo of Lucky Daje (10.45) and Augustine Ezuruike (10.48 settled for the silver and bronze medal respectively.

In the women’s 100m, Delta State sprinter, Jennifer Chukwuma, returned a time of 11.41secs to take the gold while Bayelsa athlete, Sophia Efetobore (11.48) and Kate Odumosu (11.55) settled for silver and bronze medals respectively.

In some of the other events concluded yesterday, Team Edo’s Osaro Abimbola Benedict and Philomena Edomwandagbon both won the first Gold and Silver in male and female Para powerlifting events. 

Osaro Abimbola Benedict won the gold medal in the Male 54kg while Philomena Edomwandagbon won silver in the Female 67kg 

Edo Female Handball team also made a good start as they defeated Ondo 9-8 in the group stage. Team Edo male handball team also defeated Bayelsa 20-11 while the male football team shared the spoils with Delta after a 1-1 draw. 

At the Dakkada Skill Acquisition Center, Edo girl, Holzendorff Lorelay beat Delta’s Daniela Edwin 4-0 -4-0 in Tennis and qualified for the Quarterfinals.

In Chess, one of the 17 sports featuring at the ongoing Niger Delta Sports Festival in Uyo,  commenced Thursday, at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo. 

All the nine states are currently playing together in both the male and female categories, and are playing three formats – Rapid, Blitz and Team formats.

The game has three male and three female players for each state competing for a total of 9 medals: Three gold, three silver and three bronze and all the formats are played in seven rounds of Swiss for each of both genders; a style that allows winners to keep playing winners as the game proceeds until an overall winner emerges.