MKO Abiola National Stadium agog as teams set for 19th Oil/Gas Games

Organisers of the 19th Oil and Gas Games have started putting the finishing touches to the venues of the games inside the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, ahead of the teams’ arrival for the fiesta.

The 2024 National Oil and Gas Games will hold at the stadium from April 21 to 27with NNPC, Shell, Total Energies, NCDMB, NMDPRA, NUPRC, ARADEL, Oando, SEPLAT, NLNG, Chevron, PTI and ExxonMobil fielding athletics in 13events. The sports include athletics, golf, chess, football, table tennis and tennis.

Also listed for the competition aresquash, badminton, swimming, basketball, volleyball, eight-ball pool and scrabble.

According to the organisers, the high points of the final day’s activities will be the finals of the men and women’s 100 and 200 metres dash, the 4×100 metres relay and the final football match between NCDMB and NLNG.

The preliminaries of the football event were held at the Shell Residential Area, Port Harcourt in March, where NCDMB defeated NNPC 1-0 in a highly contested semifinal to qualify for the final.

NLNG defeated NMDPRA 1-0 in the other semifinal to make the final. One of the stars expectedin the table tennis contest for Team NCDMB, Joe Adebayor, has since relocated to Lagos, training for long hours daily at the knock-up hall of National Stadium, Surulere.

Speaking on his expectations at the Games, Adebayor said: “We don’t want to take any chances. We hope to compete well and win medals for our company. That’s why I am training hard in Lagos.”