Asaba – Paralympic events in table tennis commenced at the indoor sports complex of the Stephen Keshi Stadium, with the sitting and standing categories in focus.

Three out of the five deaf table tennis events, including the men’s single, women single and women double categories had earlier been concluded. Nwokolobia Peter of Lagos and Nurudeen Olayinwola of Delta State shared the bronze medal. Ismaila Saka of Team Delta took the silver medal and Udopitan Adedayo also of Team Delta secured the gold medal at the men’s single deaf table tennis category.

A Table tennis official Mr. Lajide Oluwoti, said a total of thirty eight events are in the charts in the paralympic section of the 21th edition of the National Sports Festival.

Hear him “It’s so far Delta State that has won the team event in the able, two gold medals. We have decided men and women singles event in deaf, but the para sitting and standing; that is 1-5, 6-10 we are starting with the team event in that category.”

In Scrabble, World Champion Wellington Jighere, representing Team Delta is currently in second place in the 5th round of the singles category with thirteen rounds to go. While in the Women’s unit, African Scrabble Queen Tuoyo Mayuku, is leading the folk as expected, also representing Delta State.

Meanwhile, a scrabble official Eta-Paul Oghenekaro, gave an update on the latest in the Scrabble Championship scheduled to round off on the 6th of December.

He said “They are expected to win four gold in this event, we have the Masters category; Intermediate category, Opens Category and the Female Category. Then in the intermediate category Paul Dedtarati is doing very well too, he in fourth position and this is round five, we still have thirteen games to go.”

A contingent from Nassarawa State John Champion, who is participating in the 10m Shooting range, commended the organizers, noting the championship had provided the opportunity to improve on his game.

Champion stated “For hosting the Festival in the first place am really really grateful, honestly speaking, because this alone has improved me a lot.”

Volleyball competition will kickoff today at the Ogwashi-Ukwu Mini Sports Arena in the outskirts of Asaba, while weightlifting and wrestling are among the fixtures planned to also commence today at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba. The others are para-athletics, and able-bodied athletics in the same venue.

In other results, Team Edo is putting up a stiff challenge to Team Deltas dominance at the games, after Isah Momoh won both the 500m and the 200m cycling events, to make up for the six gold haul Team Delta had already bagged in the section.

So far, Delta State is at the top of the medals table, with thirteen gold medals. Edo State is second with two gold medals, while Ogun and Bayelsa State are joint third with one gold medal each.