15th January, 2019
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will host the 2019 Diplomatic Sports Competition in March, Francis Njoaguani, Director, ECOWAS Youth and sports Development Centre said on Tuesday.
Njoaguani told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the event would hold from March 9th to March 13th in Abuja.
He said there would be no registration nor participation fee to be charged in this edition of the games adding that donations are however welcomed.
According to him, the games will commence with a road walk on March 9th and end with a Gala Night on March 13.
“The event will hold consecutively in three centres, namlely: Abuja National Stadium (package A and B), The IBB international Golf and Country Club and the Nicon Luxury Hotel,” he said.
Njoaguan said that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed recently by ECOWAS president and the Diplomatic Sports Organisation (DSO) president for a successful hosting of the event.
“We have been having meetings with the Europeans Union members, ECOWAS member, UN agencies and Commissions; we want to make the participating countries to be well informed about the event,’’ he said.
He said the Touch of Unity or the Games Flame would be rotated among participating agencies, organisations and embassies.
Njoaguan said a total of 18 sports would feature in the event: Badminton, basketball, Billiards, Chess, Cycling, Football, Golf, and Scrabble.
Others sports events are: Snooker, Squash, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball, Monopoly, Tug of War, Darts and athletics.
He said ECOWAS and Diplomatic Sports Organising ministry would ensure that participants had a sense of integration and unity which was the guiding spirit of the competition.