Cross River promises medal haul at sports festival

Cross River State has promised to put up a strong showing at the 22nd National Sports Festival scheduled from the 16th to 30th of May, 2025, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

The state Director of Sports, Mr Ita Moses Agbor, made the promise while briefing journalists on the state of preparedness of the state contingents to the sports festival at the U.J. Esuene Stadium shortly before departure, Friday.

He said that the state was traveling to the competition with a contingent of 83, made up of 50 Athletes and 32 officials, and would compete in 16 events in the 14-day championship.

He thanked the state governor, Senator Bassey Otu, for his passion and commitment to sports development.

“We have carefully selected the best athletes to represent the state in this festival. Our aim is to surpass our previous performance; we are not going there to only compete but to win medals,” he said.

“I assure Cross Riverians that every athlete that have been selected for this competition must surely come back with a medal, I have never been a failure, I am the only coach in the state who has set a record that may never be broken. If I could do this when I was only a coach, then expect the very best now that I am director of sports.”

The captain of Team Cross River, Tom Melody Bassey, a four-time national champion in decathlon and pole vault, thanked the state Sports Commission for giving him another opportunity to lead the state to another Sports Festival, having led the team to the 2024 edition.

He said, though the state is traveling with a small contingent, with adequate training they have had and a strong determination to win, the athletes would definitely make the state proud in the competition

Bassey said the entire team is in high spirits and raring to go, adding that Cross River would be the state to beat in all the games it would be competing in.