The Main Organising Committee has announced the states that would compete in various ball events at the upcoming 2022 National Sports Festival in Delta State.
The sports are baseball/softball, basketball, football, handball, volleyball, and beach volleyball.
With the exception of beach volleyball, where they were unable to qualify for the men’s division, Lagos State dominated the qualifiers in the Southwest zone for all seven ball events.
The remaining berths were filled by the states of Oyo and Ogun, leaving only the female basketball spot for Ondo, while Osun chose one of the spots for male beach volleyball.
After competing for every slot in the South-South zone, the states of Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Edo will renew their rivalry at the festival in Delta.
As no state entered a baseball or softball team, Imo and Anambra dominated the Southeast qualifiers in six games.
The North Central states of FCT, Plateau, and Nasarawa are the ones to watch, just as Borno, Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi, and Yobe shared the honors in six games while omitting baseball and softball.
There was just one position left for each of Kebbi and Zamfara states while Kano, Kaduna, and Katsina states dominated the affairs in the Northwest.
It is noteworthy that only Kaduna entered baseball/softball because they will present a female team.
Basketball, one of the seven ball games, has the most participating states, with 18, followed by handball and hockey, each with 17.
Baseball/softball will only have five states competing for medals, while beach volleyball will have 16 states, volleyball and football will each have 15 states, and so on.
