About 500 schools have so far picked registration forms for the upcoming Anambra School Sports Festival codenamed "First Solution School Sports Festival", official says.
Patrick-Estate Onyedum, Chairman Anambra State Sports Development Commission who disclosed this in Awka on Tuesday said the enrollees were both from primary and secondary schools.
Onyedum said of these enrollees, 200 were by privately owned schools in the state.
The First Solution School Sports Festival will hold from May 17 to June 24 from iintercommunit, through the local government areas up to the state finals.
The chairman described the subscription rate as highly encouraging while expressing hope that the number may reach the target of 1,000 schools by May 12 when registration will close.
"We are impressed with the interest management of schools have shown in the coming school sports festival, it shows they have been yearning for a time like this.
"As I am talking to you over five hundred participation forms have been picked both primary and secondary but more importantly about 200 private schools have picked these forms.
"So we are also bringing private schools into the Anambra school sports arena," he said.
Onyedum said the competition which would feature 10 sporting events including Athletics, Basketball, Chess, Football, Scrabble, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Taekwondo, Volleyball and Cricket
He said competitions would be in U13 and U17 categories.
He thanked Gov. Chukwuma Soludo for his interest in the development of Anambra youths through sports and providing the platform for students to blend academics and sports.
No fewer than 15,000 students are expected to participate at preliminary level of the various games across the 179 communities and 21 local government areas of the state.