By David Owei,Bayelsa <\/p>\n
Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State says the current administration will continue to invest in sports development to give youths the opportunity to actualize their potential.<\/p>\n
The Governor stated this at a ceremony at the Peace Park, opposite Government House, shortly after the first Yenagoa City International 10-kilometre race.<\/p>\n
Represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Peter Akpe, he underscored the immense benefits of sports and fitness which according to him helps citizens to be healthy, aiding them to be free from illnesses and diseases. <\/p>\n
While congratulating the organizers, the State Ministry of Sports and participants, he noted that the Yenagoa City International 10km Race, 2026 has projected Bayelsa to the world while providing good image for the State.<\/p>\n
The Bayelsa Governor maintained that his administration would continue to accord priority to Sports as it mobilizes individuals in mass participation and provides career path for sports men and women for global reckoning.<\/p>\n
He advised the athletes to be committed to continuous training to become great sportsmen and Olympians like the state Commissioner for Sports Development, Hon. Daniel Igali.<\/p>\n
His words: “As a State, we will continue to support Sports especially in events like this that attracts thousands of participants. We have all seen the glamour and the joy from this marathon.<\/p>\n
“This Yenagoa City International 10km Race is historic. This is the first of its kind in Bayelsa State. When I was in Sports, we used to have the Olympic Day Run. And annually, we looked up to it. <\/p>\n
“This is the time where everybody is part of the sporting industry to mobilize people for massive participation.<\/p>\n
“We cannot over emphasize the importance of sports for fitness, even as a career. Several of our people have benefitted from this. One example is our own Commissioner for Sports, Daniel Igali. That is part of the dividends of participating in sports.<\/p>\n
“Today, we are gathered here and Bayelsa is being advertised positively to the world. We have participation of this magnitude brought to the State and Yenagoa City. So, we want to congratulate the organisers, those who mooted this idea, the Sports Ministry and the athletes. So, I appreciate you all. <\/p>\n
“We believe this has come to stay in Bayelsa, and we will do better next time. To our athletes, I want you to continue training because training does not end on the day you want to compete.”<\/p>\n
In the race proper, Ethiopia\u2019s Habtamu Birhane Molla got the first prize of $5,000 in the Men\u2019s category breasting the tape within 29 minutes 23 seconds.<\/p>\n
Two Nigerians were second and third as 17 year old Gang James, a native of Plateau State, who just finished from Victory Academy High School, Jos, clocked 29 minutes 59 seconds to smile home with $3,000 with Francis James following with 30 minutes 16 secs to cart home $2,000. Nigerians also finished 4th and 5th.<\/p>\n
In the women’s category, it was a clean sweep for Ethiopian athletes, namely, Shewaye Tolosa, Tigist Girma Arseta and Worke Gacasho Jilo, who carted the first, second and third prizes.<\/p>\n
The first Nigerian was Daylop Patience who was 4th in 35.07.66 secs just as her country woman, Vivian Nenyitwe Obadiaha was 5th in 35.07.66 secs.<\/p>\n
Dignitaries that graced the event included top officials from the Bayelsa State Government, including the Chairman, House Committee on Sports, State House of Assembly, Hon. Tare Porri, the Managing Director of the consulting outfit, Nilayo Sports Management Limited, Mrs. Yetunde Olopade, a representative of the World Athletics and President of International Association of Ultra-runners, Nadeem Khan, Olympian and former Nigerian Long Jump record holder, Yusuf Alli, amongst others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By David Owei,Bayelsa Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State says the current administration will continue to invest in sports development to give youths the opportunity to actualize their potential. The Governor stated this at a ceremony at the Peace Park, opposite Government House, shortly after the first Yenagoa City International 10-kilometre race. Represented by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6377],"class_list":["post-12451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-maintained-that-his-administration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12453,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12451\/revisions\/12453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}