The Executive Secretary of Nigeria University Games, Dr. Joseph Awoyinfa, said they would use an Olympic-size pool and electronic timing system “Swiss Timer” for swimming events at the games.
Awoyinfa made the disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday while speaking on readiness to host the games.
NAN reports that the NUGA games, which has suffered many cancelations, will eventually hold between March 16 and 26, 2022 at the University of Lagos.
Awoyinfa said that the Olympic-size pool and the electronic timing system, first of its kind in the history of the games, and other unique events would make 2022 NUGA the “mother of all games” in Nigeria.
He said: “We are privileged to host the 2022 NUGA games and this is our fourth time, having hosted in 1978, 1988 and 1998.
“UNILAG is ready to host the NUGA with 17 games lined up.
“Our facilities are ready and we have also put in place adequate logistics as host.
“The swimming event will be the beauty of them all because it will be the first time an Olympic-size swimming pool will be used for the NUGA games and the Swiss Timer instead of the old stop watch.
“The Swiss Timer is an electronic device that measures the speed and accuracy of the swimmers right from the time they jumped into the waters to the finishing point.”
Awoyinfa said the games would have a new format as it would spread to other sporting facilities in Lagos State for the citizens to have a feel.
He said: “We tagged the NUGA games as ‘City Games’ because we will spread to other sporting facilities such as Teslim Balogun Stadium; Rowe Park, Yaba; National Stadium, Surulere, but most of the games will be held in UNILAG.
“We want to avoid crowded centres based on COVID-19 protocols as laid down by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, which team are already in UNILAG.
“Our facilities are ready for basketball, volley ball, hand ball and table tennis.
“The scrabble and taekwondo will take place at the sports hall, while the squash will take place at two venues: the Staff Club and the sports centre.”
NAN reports that the 2022 NUGA will feature 136 universities with about 10,000 student athletes and officials participating in 17 different games.
Other games to feature are football, badminton, hockey, cricket, chess, judo, swimming, karate, athletics, squash and boxing.
The University of Port Harcourt won the 25th edition hosted by University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State in 2017, with 70 gold medals.
The Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria followed with 11 gold, while Benson Idahosa University, Benin came third with 10 gold medals.
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