EDO STATE GIRLS and KANO STATE BOYS Rugby Teams both won the SEVEN – A – SIDE RUGBY GOLD MEDALS at the 5TH NATIONAL YOUTH GAMES at Ilorin on Sunday 15 September 2019.
A highly determined EDO STATE GIRLS Rugby Team defeated a highly athletic DELTA STATE GIRLS by 10 points to 5 points during the extra time sudden death after both teams had tied at normal regulation time with 5 points apiece in a tension soaked encounter.
The Boys match also went into extra time and was even more dramatic and emotional with the highly skilled Kano young lads taking the upper hand again during the extra time sudden death by defeating a die-hard and highly determined Delta State side by 12 points to 7 points.
The Medals table for Rugby event at the 5TH NATIONAL YOUTH GAMES saw new comers such AS EDO and KANO STATES clinching the Gold Medals in their first appearance.
DELTA STATE won Silver Medals in both Boys and Girls events, while OGUN STATE won Bronze in the girls and OSUN BOYS won Bronze in the Boys event.
Meanwhile, the EHIBAM GRIEFSHARE FOUNDATION supported the RUGBY EVENT by donating two trophies for the MOST DISCIPLINED TEAMS of the championship.
LAGOS STATE Female Rugby team won the Female Most Disciplined Team, while RIVERS STATE Male Rugby team who featured only 8 players won the Boys Most Disciplined Team of the Tournament.
The Trophies and Gold Medals were presented by the Honourable Commissioner of Sports for OSUN STATE COMRADE BIYI ODUNLADE and the Permanent Secretary in the Kano State Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development ALHAJI IBRAHIM AHMED SAGAGI.
Also on hand to present the Silver Medals were the Director of Sports of the Edo State Sports Commission MR. SUNNY ARANDEL, the Chairman of Coaches Association of Delta State MR TILIJE SUNDAY, alongside MR PATRICK IBEH and “MR RUGBY” NTIENSE WILLIAMS respectively.
FEMALE MEDALS TABLE
EDO – GOLD
DELTA – SILVER
OGUN – BRONZE
MALE MEDALS TABLE
KANO – GOLD
DELTA – SILVER
OSUN – BRONZE
MOST DISCIPLINED RUGBY TEAMS AWARD
LAGOS FEMALE RUGBY TEAM and Rivers MALE RUGBY TEAMS respectively.
COMRADE BIYI ODUNLADE in his address, said “We sincerely thank the organisers – the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports, the host University of Ilorin who are already institutionalising Rugby in its establishment with a Rugby Pitch through the effort of the Rugby Coach Alhaji Sulymon Angulu. Appreciations also goes to all the States for encouraging the beautiful game of Rugby by featuring teams at the 5th edition of the National Youth Games especially states that brought both male and female teams namely Lagos, Delta, Rivers and Osun States respectively. Other states that featured with a team each in either boys or girls are Ogun, Edo, and Kano states respectively. We also thank Ehibam Griefshare Foundation for the surprise donation of the Most Disciplined Trophies.”
“And everyone else who have contributed to make the event a huge success”.
“Altogether, 11 teams participated in the RUGBY EVENT at the 5th National Youth Games.
“We look forward to a much bigger and better event next year, whilst we continue to encourage other states to embrace this exciting and beautiful game of Rugby which is popularly referred to as a “Rough Games Played By Gentlemen”!
‘’The only team sports with multiple medals and two World Cups for male and female respectively’’
“We will encourage you to tune into the Rugby flagship tournament – The “Webb Ellis Rugby World Cup” which kicks off in Japan in the next 5 days” he concluded.
