Defending champions of the National Sports Festival, Team Delta, is preparing a contingent of 727 athletes and 149 officials for the fast-approaching 22nd edition of the games holding in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The festival, which is the biggest sporting event in Nigeria, will begin on May 16 and end on May 30.

Team Delta, which has won the festival title eight times in 10 appearances since its first outing at Makurdi ‘96, will arrive in Ogun with 391 male and 336 female athletes, accompanied by 149 officials.

The Guardian learnt, yesterday, that Team Delta will compete in a total of 36 sporting events, including team sports. The sports are abula (women and mixed), athletics, ayo, badminton, basketball (men and women), boxing, chess, cricket, cycling, dambe, darts, deaf athletics and deaf badminton.

Others are deaf table tennis, football (men and women), golf, gymnastics, handball (men and women), hockey (men and women), judo, karate, kickboxing, para-athletics, para-powerlifting, para-table tennis and scrabble.

The defending champions will also contest for medals in squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball (men), weightlifting, wheelchair basketball, wrestling and wushu-kungfu.

The team has been in a closed camp in preparation for the festival. The contingent is expected to depart for Abeokuta early next week.

Meanwhile, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori is confident that Team Delta will retain the NSF title at the end of hostilities in Ogun. Speaking while receiving the National Sports Festival’s Unity Torch in Asaba, Oborevwori, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Sir Monday Onyeme, said that his administration has done enough to encourage the state athletes and their officials in the build-up to the festival.