Squash, Chess, Ayo Olopon Missing as NSC Cuts National Sports Festival Events to 20 for Enugu 2026

Squash, Chess, Ayo Olopon Missing as NSC Cuts National Sports Festival Events to 20 for Enugu 2026



Traditional and emerging sports such as squash, chess, ayo olopon handball, volleyball and several others will not feature at the 23rd National Sports Festival scheduled to hold in Enugu after the National Sports Commission (NSC) confirmed a drastic reduction in the number of events for the Games.

The previous edition of the festival hosted in Ogun State featured 33 sports, but the upcoming Coal City Games will now accommodate only 20 sports following a decision by the NSC.

The clarification was made in a statement signed by Kehinde Ajayi following a meeting between the Director General of the NSC, Bukola Olopade, and States’ Directors of Sports in Abuja.

According to the Commission, the reduction was approved during the last National Council on Sports meeting held in Calabar, with economic realities cited as the major reason behind the decision.

The NSC stressed that it has the exclusive responsibility to organise and coordinate the National Sports Festival, adding that the move aligns with international practices being adopted for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where some sports are also being merged.

While darts survived the cut and retained its place among the approved events, sports such as squash, chess and ayo are among notable omissions from the Enugu 2026 programme, a development expected to generate reactions from athletes and stakeholders in those sports.

The Commission, however, assured states of improved communication through their Directors of Sports to avoid future misunderstandings concerning the festival.

The 20 approved sports for the Coal City Games are athletics and para athletics, badminton and para badminton, basketball and wheelchair basketball (3x3), boxing, canoeing and para canoeing, cricket, cycling, darts, football, golf, gymnastics, judo, mixed martial arts, shooting and para shooting, swimming, table tennis and para table tennis, tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and para powerlifting, as well as wrestling.

The meeting was attended by Directors of Sports from the six geo-political zones, officials of the National Sports Festival and Para Sports Department, alongside other key stakeholders in Nigerian sports.

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