Sports Ministry Finally Release 2022 National Sports Festival Medals Table

The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has released the final medal standings for the 2022 National Sports Festival on Wednesday, 29 days after the competition ended in Asaba, Delta State.

The sports ministry released the 2022 National Sports Festival medal standings after the committee set up to investigate the medal issues in the festival submitted its findings to the ministry.

In a statement issued by Ismaila Abubakar, the sports ministry’s permanent secretary, the ministry blamed “human errors” for the scandal, which earlier saw the medals table revised twice behind closed doors following the competition.

Some states allegedly conspired with festival organizers to add more gold medals to their collection so they could obtain greater monetary rewards from their home states, according to several sports commissioners.

A statement from the sports ministry read: “The committee submitted that human errors occasioned by administrative laxity, inexperience, general delays, non-awareness and some cases, the misapplication of the substantive Festival Rules led to the flaws observed in the earlier computed Medal Table, which has now been rectified and approved by the ministry.”

The statement also noted that rigorous adherence to the rules led to results in several athletics, scrabble, weightlifting, and wrestling events not to be recorded in the revised table.

It was also noted that several states lost medals because “the committee implemented all existing rules regulating the execution of the National Sports Festival as applicable in games of this magnitude,” even though most states kept their positions on the scoreboard.

With a total of 280 gold, 168 silver, and 120 bronze medals, Delta State retained its lead in the final medals table that has been reviewed. The following three states, with a combined total of 106 gold, 69 gold, and 43 gold medals, are Bayelsa, Edo, and Oyo.

The 2022 hosts, Team Delta emerged as the overall champions with 648 medals, including 320 gold, 200 silver, and 128 bronze medals, according to the preliminary final medals table published on December 10. They retained their top spot despite losing 40 gold medals in the revised table that was presented on Wednesday.

Bayelsa, which had been in second place with 132 gold, suddenly had 106 gold, while Edo, who had been in third place with 78 gold, now had 69 gold. Also having their gold cut from 50 to 43 was fourth-place Oyo.

Despite earlier complaints, the ministry made no mention of the people that were allegedly responsible for the medal padding and the probable punishment for them.