Sports authorities in Ebonyi State have said that they were not worried by the defection of their athletes to other states for next month’s National Sports Festival scheduled for Port Harcourt.

More than 10 athletes representing the state in key sports have been poached by other states in the past few months.

Emmanuel Utobo, the Acting Director of Sports in the state, told newsmen in Abakaliki that the development was not a threat to Ebonyi’s medal hopes at the sports fiesta.

“Those athletes have the right to do so. They feel that other states can provide them with better opportunities; therefore we allowed them to leave as we could not meet their demands.

“There is no way Ebonyi can compete with the likes of Lagos, Edo, Rivers and Delta in terms of athletes’ welfare because we do not have the type of resources they have,” he said.

Utobo said athletes who opted to remain with the state had shown signs that they would excel at the sports festival.

“Our Kung Fu athletes won one gold and two bronze medals at the Lagos Open Championship last November.

“Also in the same month, our wrestlers won the overall position in the Greco-Roman category of the Open Wrestling Championship in Bayelsa.

“The state’s athletes won the male and female football and handball events of the National Sports Festival zonal elimination series held in November in Enugu,’’ he noted.

Utobo said that to ensure the state performed better at the competition than it did at “Kaduna 2009’’, the sports council had toured the grass roots where it discovered new talents.

“These athletes are being groomed with the older ones to ensure that the state is ready for the festival when it commences next month,’’ he said.

The acting director said that no date had been fixed for the kick-off of the final phase of camping for the athletes but noted that they were training on their own.

“We call on individuals and organisations to complement the government’s efforts by sponsoring the athletes to the competition because adequate preparation and participation are capital intensive,’’ he said.