Congrats, Team Rivers

The feat recorded by Team Rivers at the just concluded
18th National Sports Festival, tagged “Eko 2012”
with 218 medals, consisting of 76 gold, 71 silver and 71 bronze medals is
commendable.

Team Rivers came second at the festival hosted by Lagos State
which won a total of 183 medals, consisting 65 gold, 47 silver and 71 bronze to
finish third on the medals table while Edo and Bayelsa States followed with 25
gold, 23 silver and 44 bronze and 19 gold, 17 silver and 23 bronze medals
respectively.

Although, Delta State which came tops in the competition was
unable to match Team Rivers record at the 17th edition, tagged Garden City Games 2011 with
medals, including 80 gold medals, its steady progress in national outings
cannot be missed and we congratulate them.

Even so, The Tide is disturbed by reports of back hand activities in some
events involving Team Rivers. The way some games were handled by umpires and
technical officials, especially in basketball, volleyball, weightlifting,
Taekwando, boxing, table tennis and even cycling leaves much to be desired.

We are equally dismayed by the report that Team Rivers’ gold
medal hopeful in swimming, Duotimi Gagbe was made to lose medals via suspension
based on spurious claims by a sister state which invariably exposed an obvious
gang-up against the defending champion at the festival.

Indeed, Team Rivers made Rivers people proud even in the face
of glaring act of sabotage where athletes registered for  the State abandoned the team and participated
for other States.

It is disheartening to observe that four wrestlers that
Rivers banked on for medals abandoned Team Rivers camp over night and never
returned. Such developments no doubt go to confirm suspicions that there
existed forces that really did not want Rivers State to take its rightful place
at the games.

We believe, Team Rivers was prepared to defend the title it
won in the last edition but met several obstacles and distractions in officiating,
organisation and questionable ethical conduct in the overall execution of Eko
2012.

However, The Tide celebrates with Team Rivers over the
feat that goes to buttress the fact that the victory at the last festival in
Port Harcourt was not a fluke as expressed in some quarters. We commend Team
Rivers for coming second in the face of massive obstruction because the state
dared to say that it was going to top the medals table again.

While we congratulate Team Rivers and expect the government
and people of Rivers State to give the contingents the deserved welcome, we
think that issues that denied the state some valuable medals should be probed.

The hope of Rivers State to top the medal table again at Eko
2012 may have caused a gang-up and attracted harsh officiating. The event that
affected the team’s swimming star that was denied some events and the male
handball team that was disqualified on grounds of fielding three un-registered
players call for concern.

We believe that the National Sports Festival is more about
developing the spirit of sportsmanship and not to win at all cost. That is why
we condemn everything that tended to make it otherwise, especially in the area
of partiality in officiating.

The Tide is happy with the turn out of events on sports development
in Rivers State. We support the huge investment in the sector and hope that
preparation for the next edition of the National Sports Festival in Calabar
will begin immediately.

We should also commend Lagos for making the games possible
within just one year after Rivers. Even so, the telecast of the games on the
internet for the first time was also commendable as the visibility it gave to
the game, our country and our sports talents cannot be quantified.