Rivers Athletes Relocate From Diete-Spiff Sports Complex

Rivers State athletes
are currently faced with constraints in their preparations ahead of the forthcoming 19th National Sports Festival (NSF) due to the sudden dislocation from their traditional training facilities at the Alfred Diette Spiff Sports Complex, Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.
This was as a result of the on-going renovation work at the complex; athletes are now scattered across the various sports venues in the city to enable them (athletes) do their daily training sessions and further prepare for the task ahead.
The new abode of the associations where their daily activities and trainings are held include the basketball complex at Niger Street, Yakubu Gowon Stadium, and former information centre along Bende Street, where facilities for volleyball,  tennis among others are available.
According to the Acting Director, Rivers State Sports Council, Mr. Nathaniel Piaro, the Government directed that all vehicles within and around the Alfred Diette Spiff Sports Complex should be removed.
“My constraint now is that athletes cannot have easy access to vehicles as to convey them to their various sports centres for training, especially, the Gowon Stadium, this will continue pending the completion of the work and it will definitely affect the athletes,” he said.
Mr. Piaro, who disclosed this Tuesday, in an interview with Tidesports in Port Harcourt, said that the on-going work at the complex is part of preparations for the upcoming 2016 Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) National Conference expected to be hosted in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
However, some sports such as weightlifting, kickboxing and cricket still make use of the Alfred Diette Spiff Sports Complex, while karate, boxing and basketball now occupy the facility at Niger Street, (basketball court).