Football, track/field steal show at Akwa Ibom Festival

As the Akwa Ibom Youth Sports Festival entered its third day yesterday, football and track and field attracted a lot of attention due to the popularity of both sports.In the football event, Ikot Abasi, Ikot Ekpene and Ibeno have qualified for the quarterfinals in the secondary schools boys’ category.

A promising Ibeno side beat Etim Ekpo 1-0, while it took penalties (4-2) for Ikot Abasi to edge out Obot Akara in an energy sapping encounter.Urue Ofong Oruko’s ambition of progressing was halted by clinical Ikot Ekpene, who dispatched them 2-0.

The football event for women and the primary schools also got underway in the Itam Sports Centre, which is also venue for tennis, handball, handball and basketball.The state FA Chairman, Emmmanuel Ibah, said he was delighted with the individual stars so far discovered different from the teams

Track and field as usual ignited the packed arena of the Godswill Akpabio International stadium as all the 31 local government teams were battling to make it pass the heats stage.

A throw of 30.50 metres was enough to earn Esther Peter Sunday of Itu the javelin gold. She was followed by Enomfon Gideon of Etinan (27.15m) and Alice Onofiok of of Oron (22,71 metres).

In the 200 metres amputee, pretty Miss Ability Mathew Udo of Archibong Memorial in Ikono returned 29 seconds, a time better than the winner of the event at the national schools championship in Ilorin.

Despite the above, the biggest winners of the day was Itu Local Government, who won the Judo event with 13 gold, eight silver and two bronze medals, followed by Uyo with 10 gold and 12 silver medals. Eket came in third with one gold, four silver and four bronze medals.

The competition continues today with finals in Volleyball, basketball, handball, tennis, table tennis, taekwondo, boxing, baseball and other sports