By Victor Okoye

Team FCT made a promising impression on Wednesday at the ongoing 22nd National Sports Festival (NSF), amassing five medals.

The biennial multi-sport event, themed “the Gateway Games,” is taking place at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta, Ogun, with athletes from all 36 states and the FCT vying for national honors.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Team FCT won one gold, two silver and two bronze medals in weightlifting, taekwondo, and the traditional game of Ayo.

FCT’s medal campaign was spearheaded by weightlifter Esther Clement, who delivered an impressive performance to claim a silver and a bronze in her category.

An additional bronze in weightlifting brought the tally in the discipline to three.

In traditional sports, FCT struck gold with a standout victory in Ayo, while a hard-fought bronze medal in taekwondo added to the growing list of accolades for the capital’s team.

FCT Sports Director, Luka Istefanus, expressed optimism in the ability of the team to excel beyond expectations at the ongoing festival.

“I believe the team will continue to add to its medal count as the competition intensifies.

“We are participating in about 22 sports at the ongoing festival, including football, handball, basketball, volleyball, beach volleyball, para powerlifting, taekwondo, traditional sports, to mention a few.

“This will be my last sports festival, and I am hoping to sign off with a good representation and outing.

“At the last NSF in Asaba, Team FCT finished 9th position, even though we had always finished 7th at the last two previous editions.

“Before I took over at the helms of affairs, we were finishing 16th and 17th on the log. In fact, our best ever finish at that time was 13th position.

“But, since I came in, we have made some reasonable progress, even though we still have a lot of challenges confronting us,” he said.

He said that there was the need to encourage the players so as to boost their morale.

He revealed that the FCT athletes do not receive monthly stipends or allowances compared to their counterparts in other states who were always taken care of.

“In fact, this was what affected our performance in Asaba, as most of our athletes were pulled out of the team by their parents because they were unhappy.

“So, they refused to allow them to go with us to Asaba, and we had to go with what we had. In fact, all my gold medalists had gone to register with other states, but we still managed to finish 9th last year.

“We are again hopeful this year that even though we didn’t have the best of preparations, we can still go on to achieve something,” he said.

NAN reports that the festival, which began on May 16, will end on May 30. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Emmanuel Afonne