UNILAG in Festive Mood As NUGA Games Kick Off On Monday, 21st March

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The 26th edition of the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA games) being hosted by the University of Lagos (UNILAG) will begin the preliminary kick off tomorrow, Saturday 19th March 2022, at the university’s Multipurpose Sports Centre Akoka, Yaba.

The games will officially begin on Monday, March 21, with some of the events slated to start on Saturday, tomorrow, before the opening ceremony later that day.

Athletes will be competing in the following sports – Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Chess, Cricket, Football, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Scrabble, Squash, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Volleyball, and Karate.

The University of Lagos secured the hosting rights at the closing ceremony of the games held at the University Of Agriculture, Makurdi in 29th April 2017.

About 5,000 athletes from 75 accredited Universities will feature in the 2022 edition of the games.

The 75 Universities which are comprised of federal, state and private universities will have their athletes compete in 16 sporting events at various designated centres within and outside the unilag campus.

At the last edition of NUGA Games, held at the University Of Agriculture, Makurdi, in 2017, the University Of Port – Harcourt emerged as the overall winner of the 25th edition of the games.

UniPort topped the medals table with a total of 150 medals. The breakdown went thus, 70 Gold, 47 Silver and 33 Bronze.

The current host, the University of Lagos, was in the fourth position with 20 medals, made up of 9 Gold 4 Silver and Bronze.

The first edition of the NUGA games was held at the University of Ibadan in 1966, following a successful hosting of the first West African University Games in Ibadan in 1965.

The five Universities that participated in the maiden edition of the games were the host, University of Ibadan, the University of Ile- Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Nigeria Nsukka, University of Lagos, Akoka and Ahammadu Bello University, Zaria.
Story Written by Sports Correspondent; OMOKAYODE MUSE