Ekiti, Kwara win YSFON/CNS football tournament
EKITI and Kwara states have won the 2019 Chief of Naval Staff U-14 boys and U-17 girls football competition held over the weekend at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan. In entertaining finals, Ekiti defeated hard fighting Kwara 1-0 to emerge winners in the boy’s category, while Kwara got a redemption through their girls, who recorded 5-3 penalty victory over Rivers State after their game had ended 1-1 at regulation time. Declaring the tournament closed, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas, who was represented by the Flag
Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Stanford Enock, expressed happiness with the quality, skills and standard of football displayed by all the participating teams, promising that Nigerian Navy will continue to support the championship, just as he commended the government and people of Oyo State for being good hosts.
“l am highly impressed with the quality of football artistry displayed by these young players. It is an indication that our partnership with Youth Sports Federation (YSFON) is yielding good results and I want to assure you that the Nigerian Navy will continue to support this grassroots developmental programme,” he said. He commended the Oyo State government and the state’s chapter of YSFON, led by Alabi Rafiu Oluaye, for creating an environment and good ambience that produced a hitch-free tournament In his own remark, YSFON President, who also doubles as Deputy Governor of Kano State, Dr. Yusuf Gawuna thanked the Nigerian Navy for being a wonderful partner and promised that the
Federation will not relent in its efforts at discovering young talented sportsmen and women for the count r y . Some dignitaries that witnessed the finals were representative of the Chief of Army Staff, Major General O.O Soleye, General Officer Commanding, 2nd Division, Ibadan, representative of Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Femi Ajao and a host of othe r s .
Winners of the tournament went home with a giant trophy and the sum of N50, 000 while the runners- up got N30, 000 and a trophy.