NSF 2022: Delta loses 40 gold as ministry releases final medals table

The ministry of youth and sports development has released the reviewed final medals table for the 2022 edition of the National Sports Festival (NSF). 

Delta state still retained the top position as medals and events were cancelled during the recalculation of the laurels won at the sporting festival.

Last month, the ministry inaugurated a committee to review the 2022 NSF’s final medals table, a few weeks after the competition was concluded in Delta.

The development followed complaints from different quarters over alleged results padding, with some states claiming the total results cannot be up to the final medals table.

The committee was tasked with determining what went wrong with the medals table computation and making recommendations to guide against future occurrences.

In a statement on Wednesday, Ismaila Abubakar, the sports ministry’s permanent secretary, announced the conclusion committee’s recalculation of the final medals table.

He added that while all states maintain their position on the initial table, some medals and events in athletics, scrabble, weightlifting, and wrestling were chalked off for not meeting the festival’s criteria.

“The medals table has now been rectified and approved by the ministry,” Abubakar said.

“The full application of the rules meant that the results from some events in athletics, scrabble, weightlifting and wrestling, which did not meet the criteria for scoring, were not recorded on the reviewed medals table.

“While in accordance with rule 28 of the World Para Powerlifting Rules and Regulations (March 2022), only the results from ‘Best Lift Medal’ were recorded for the sport of powerlifting.

“Consequently, it is significant to note that most of the States retained their positions on the medals table, thereby maintaining the status quo.

“However, some states lost some medals as the committee applied all extant rules guiding the organisation of the National Sports Festival as applicable in games of this magnitude.

“In order to correct the observed anomaly and to uphold the integrity of the Festival, the ministry will take appropriate administrative procedures to prevent future reoccurrence as recommended by the Committee.

“In the reviewed medals table, Delta State maintained its lead with a total of 280 Gold, 168 Silver and 120 Bronze medals, followed by Bayelsa, Edo and Oyo States, which had 106 Gold, 69 Gold and 43 Gold medals respectively.”

Delta which led the initial table with 320 gold, 200 silver and 128 bronze medals were stripped of 40 gold medals, 32 silver laurels and eight bronze. Second-placed Team Bayelsa lost 26 gold medals from their initial haul while 9 gold medals were deducted from Edo in third.

The sports ministry said the miscalculation was caused by human errors occasioned by administrative laxity, inexperience, general delays, non-awareness and misapplication of the substantive festival rules.