Asaba 2022 Sports Festival also known as the National Sports Festival of Nigeria is a biennial multi-sport event organized by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Sports Commission for athletes from the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria.
History The National Sport Festival can be traced back to its debut in 1973 in Lagos State. The major aim of the festival is to foster unity and ensure talent development in sports in the country.
The festival is also known to be called Nigeria's version of the Olympic Games. The festival for 2022 was the 21st edition of the competition and it was hosted at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba, the capital of Delta state.
Festival activities The National Sport Festival tagged Asaba 2022 was scheduled to hold from November 8, 2022, to December 10, 2022. The flag off of the Torch of Unity for the festival was done by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential villa in Abuja.
The Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa received the torch of Unity from the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare after the troch of Unity had toured the entire 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory.
Some of the activities in the festival includes running, Scrabble games, basketball, handball, volleyball, swimming, cycling, wrestling, judo, Karate, kickboxing, cricket and many other sports included in the Olympic Games. It was reported that over 15,00 athletics participated in the festival in Asaba.
Host selection Delta state won the bid to host this years version of the festival at the end of the last edition which was held in Benin city, Edo State.
Tournament medal table At the end of the 21st edition, team Delta topped the medal table winning 320 gold medal, 200 silver medals and 128 bronze medals.
Team Bayelsa came second in the medal table followed by Team Edo which came third in the medal table.
+ Final Medals Standing States Gold Silver Bronze Total Position Delta 320 200 128 648 1st Bayelsa 132 115 90 337 2nd Edo 78 94 167 339 3rd Oyo 50 51 62 163 4th Lagos 41 57 74 172 5th Rivers 35 57 117 209 6th kano 19 27 30 76 7th Ogun 15 18 37 70 8th FCT 15 11 33 59 9th Akwa Ibom 14 15 33 62 10th Imo 12 8 25 45 11th Abia 10 11 20 41 12th Ondo 9 25 47 81 13th Anambra 6 9 24 39 14th Cross River 6 6 6 18 15th Plateau 4 12 26 42 16th Osun 4 12 13 29 17th Kwara 4 8 37 49 18th Niger 3 6 5 14 19th Kaduna 3 5 9 17 20th Benue 3 1 3 7 21st Kastina 2 4 9 15 22nd Borno 2 1 7 10 23rd Yobe 1 3 3 7 24th Kogi 1 2 3 6 25th Enugu 1 1 7 9 26th Adamawa 1 0 3 4 27th Nasarawa 0 7 13 20 28th Bauchi 0 6 10 16 29th Ebonyi 0 5 4 9 30th Kebbi 0 4 6 10 31st Ekiti 0 4 3 7 32nd Taraba 0 2 6 8 33rd Jigawa 0 2 3 5 34th Sokoto 0 1 2 3 35th Gombe 0 0 6 6 36th Zamfara 0 0 0 0 37th Total 791 790 1071 2652
References