All 7 In North Central Nigeria Show Presence In Team Sports Come Enugu 2026 As Plateau State Shows Superiority

Unlike in the Intermediate Games that will be taking place in Lagos, where State like Benue will be missing in team sports, it’s a swan song for all the States that make up the North Central zone of Nigeria as all will be represented in one sport or the other come Enugu 2026.

In the conclusion of the North Central Zonal elimination for team sports to the National Sports Festival in Enugu yesterday, host State, Plateau, woke up from their earlier slumber in the Intermediate Games as they swept almost everything at stake.

In male Basketball, Plateau State came tops with Niger State coming second to join them in Enugu in the Games proper.

In the female category, Plateau State still came tops and will be joined by FCT who came second.

In men’s football, Plateau State still led the pack to Enugu to be joined by Niger State who came second.

In the women’s category, the zone will be represented by both the FCT, who came tops and Benue State.

In Beach Volleyball the zone will be represented by table toppers, Abuja and second placed Plateau State in the male category.

While in the women’s category, the zone will be represented by the FCT.

In Cricket, the men will be represented by Kwara and Plateau States, while the women will be represented by Kogi State.

In Volleyball, Kwara and Plateau States will represent the zone in the men’s category, while Plateau and Nasarawa States will represent the zone in Enugu in the female category.

Here is the host, Plateau State account as made available by the PRO of the Plateau State Sports Council, Alfred Gonyok:

With the conclusion of the National Sports Festival Zonal Eliminations, north central zone, in Jos, all teams that registered for Plateau in Basketball, Volleyball, Beach Volleyball, Football and Cricket, secured places in the finals at Enugu, later this year.

The Plateau male Volleyball team won the ticket in a dramatic fashion, coming from a 2 points deficit to stun Niger 3-2 to claim a spot at the main Festival. The female team had earlier qualified courtesy of a 3-0 defeat to Nassarawa. In the same vein, the female Beach Volleyballers also secured the ticket after winning one of their two matches at the St Johns college playground.

In Basketball, both the male and female teams clinched the first slots after their respective encounters. The male even though lost to Niger 44-51, the earlier defeat to FCT on match day one was enough to hand the male team qualification. The female team cruised through the eliminations without a defeat, by securing points against FCT 26-25, and Nassarawa, 41-31 to book a ticket to the finals.

In Football, the male team played out a scoreless draw with Niger, enough to earn them a trip to the finals in Enugu.

Rugby has earlier booked their ticket on match day one, raising the total tickets won by Plateau teams to seven, as all the teams have qualified for the biennial competition.