The Chairman of Delta State Sports Commission (DSSC), Hon. Tonobok Okowa has stated that the state’s policy of catching athletes young has been responsible for their enviable success in sports in Nigeria.
In a chat at the just concluded 20th National Sports Festival, the sports administrator said Delta State athletes are discovered early and trained very well.
- Panic as cultists shoot university student in Bayelsa
- Asians hawking vegetables, selling Ankara, taking over Nigerian jobs – FG
“We catch them young through grass root development and groom them until they hit stardom. If you look at it, since the inception of youth games, we have been taking the first position.
“These same athletes are kept and we train them to get to where we want them. Most of our athletes from youth games have to travel out on scholarships to US, Europe and they still go ahead to develop their talent in sports,” he said.
He further said athletes always want to represent Delta because they want to develop.
“Every athlete wants to get to a stage where they can get better and have seen that Delta has better coaches. They’ve also seen that we have better welfare,” he noted.
Okowa also rejected the claims by some states that COVID-19 is responsible for their lacklustre performance in Benin City.
