Co-Chairman of the Main Organising Committee of the Niger Delta Sports Festival, Sir Itiako Ikpokpo, has restated that athletes discovered at the NDSF will undergo periodical camping where scientific methods of training would be applied.

The Co-Chairman revealed that,over 60 athletes have already been spotted as at Day 4 of the festival,

Ikpokpo said, “This festival is not about who came first or who won gold. Our Scouts are looking out for hints of potential, quality that can be groomed for future success.

He said the finders made up of coaches, former athletes and scouts have so far submitted 64 names and most of them were not those that came first or second.

“We seek to set up camps for the identified athletes with a view to putting them through scientific research based training supervised by certified coaches,” added Ikpokpo who is the lead Consultant for the project.

“The real work is not this festival, it is to design and implement the plan to nuture the talents discovered here to go on and replace those who have been representing Nigeria.”

Sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission as part of its mandate to improve living conditions of people of the nine mandate states, the NDSF had about 3000 athletes and 500 officials competing in 17 sports. 

It began on April 1 and will end on April 8 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.