The first-ever Niger Delta Sports Festival, set to take place from April 3 to 12, 2025, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, will feature 17 exciting sports disciplines.

Among the sports to be contested are athletics, basketball, boxing, canoeing/kayak, football, handball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting, and wrestling. Additionally, the festival will include chess, scrabble, traditional wrestling, volleyball, para athletics, and para powerlifting.

Athletics will feature both track and field events, with races ranging from 100m to 5,000m, including hurdles and relay events. Field events will include long jump, high jump, triple jump, javelin, shot put, discus, and hammer throw, with separate categories for men and women.

Boxing will also feature men’s and women’s categories, with specific weight classes: 52kg, 63kg, 75kg, 81kg, and 81kg+ for men, and 51kg, 63kg, and 75kg for women.

The canoeing competition will offer both singles and doubles events for men and women, with races in distances of 100m, 200m, and 500m. Similarly, kayak competitions will include men’s and women’s singles for both 100m and 500m distances.

Swimming will have a range of events, including freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly stroke, and the individual medley. There will be competitions in distances ranging from 50m to 400m, with relay events for both men and women.

Table tennis will see competition in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles categories for both men and women, while wrestling will feature freestyle and Greco-Roman events in both male and female divisions.

Weightlifting will feature competitions in four weight classes for men (61kg, 73kg, 89kg, and 102kg) and four for women (49kg, 59kg, 71kg, and 81kg).

State trials and selection processes will begin in February, ahead of the festival, ensuring that the best athletes from across the region are chosen to represent their states in the upcoming event.

This inaugural festival promises to showcase the talents of athletes from the Niger Delta region and beyond, offering a platform for rising stars in Nigerian sports.