The contingent from the Federal Capital Territory made up of five teams which departed Abuja on Monday arrived Ilorin the Kwara State capital for the North Central zonal qualifiers ahead of the 2020 National Sports Festival in EDO State in March.

Bidding the contingent farewell in Abuja before departing at the FCT Sports Complex Abuja the Director of Sports FCT Mrs Dilichukwu  Onyindima  , accompanied by Some Chairmen  of FCT Sports Associations   charged the contingent to be role models and make the  FCT  proud by qualifying for the  events in Benin City.

“The Minister of FCT Muhammad Belo and the Minister of state Ramatu  Tijani Aliyu   wants you to be good ambassadors of  FCT, in terms of your conduct, on and off the field.

“I want to assure you that this period will be different from any other time in the past.

“We want all our team sports to feature in the main Games in Benin City and that is the reason why we are all here today.

 The FCT Director of Sports tasked team  FCT to go all out as   defending  champions and maintaining  a hundred percent record not only by qualifying but by winning  gold  back to back in the National.Sports Festival.

Mrs Dilichukwu added that modalities have been put in place for the contingent to succeed at both the Zonal Elimination and main events coming later in EDO State.

Responding on behalf of the teams the Secretary General of the FCT Football team Haruna  Ilerika  promised that they would do their best to give FCT all the tickets at the Zonal Elimination.

FCT top the nineteen northern states and finished overall 7th in the last National Sports Festival.

The North-Central Zonal Elimination competition which would determine the States that will represent the Zone in Team Sports Events at the 2020 NSF in Edo State, will kick-off on Tuesday with the draws followed by the action in the field and would come to an end on Thursday, 23rd January,

Team FCT will feature in Football Male, Handball Male. Beach Volley ball both Male and female and cricket in female event, respectively

The 2020 NSF, is scheduled to hold between March 22 and April 1st 2020, in Benin City, Edo State, with over 8,500 athletes expected to compete for 3,000 medals from 33 sports events.