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By Olayinka Owolewa
As a mark of superiority, Team Delta on Sunday made history, winning the 4th National Youth Games in Ilorin to make it four wins out of four editions of the competition.
They won the multi-sports youth development Games for the third time in 2017, after garnering 61 medals, made up of 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Team Delta emerged winners of the 4th edition, and building on last year’s collections.
The state finished with a total of 67 medals, made up of 27 gold, 24 silver and 16 bronze, to win the 2018 Games.
Lagos, which did not participate in the second and third editions returned in a big way, emerging second after securing a total of 60 medals — 23 gold, 15 silver and 22 bronze.
Team Bayelsa and Ogun were joint third, winning 34 medals — 11 gold, 7 silver and 16 bronze each.
Akwa-Ibom and Abia came fourth and fifth in that order.
Hosts Kwara had a decline in their performance, finishing ninth, with five gold, nine silver and four bronze medals. They came fourth in the 2017 edition.
Twenty-nine states recorded medals, with Team Adamawa coming last among the states with medals, as they got only one bronze.
Declaring the Games closed, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, Mr Olushola Alashade, said that the Ministry was achieving its objective of using the Games to discover young athletes.
The National Youth Games was introduced in 2013, as a youth development initiative when the National Sports Festival was opened.
It was designed to hold annually, but that was only achieved three years after the first edition.
The 17-years age bar was reduced to 15 after the third edition in 2017, to ensure that the youth development target was sustained.
The fifth edition in 2019 will also hold at the University of Ilorin, as the Better by Far University has a five-year hosting right for the Games starting from the 2018 edition. (NAN)