The Director of Grassroots Sports Development in the Federal Ministry of Sports Development in Nigeria, Dr. Ademola Are has said that he will do everything possible to ensure that all overage athletes filled in the 4th edition of the U-15 National Youth Games are disqualified during the screening exercise,National Daily learnt.
Dr. Are stated this while speaking with pressmen on Sunday shortly before the commencement of the screening exercise of athletes at the Multipurpose Hall of the University of Ilorin, Kwara State.
He said this year’s National Youth Games would be different from previous editions and as such the Federal Ministry of Sports is taking necessary steps to ensure some of the challenges faced in the previous editions dose not repeat itself.
He noted that one of the things that will make the 2018 edition successful is the checking of age groups of the participating athletes, assuring that the screening committee will do a thorough job.
According to him, “We are not after any birth certificate of any athletes, rather we will see their faces and know how old they are.”
He further disclosed that the Ministry is introducing a lot of new things in order to make sure the athletes have a memorable participation of the 4th edition of the competition, adding that only 31 States out of 36 have registered for the competition.
The Federal Director of Sports added that the aim of the National Youth Games is to identify talented athletes across the country which would be handed over to various Sports Federations for grooming for future competitions both within and outside Nigeria. Meanwhile, the opening ceremony of the National Youth Games is scheduled to hold on Monday 10th September, 2018 at the University of Ilorin.