About 200 athletes from Cross River State are expected to feature in the 2012 National Sports Festival tagged Eko 2012 to be hosted by Lagos State.

The state Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development, Mr. Patrick Ugbe disclosed this to Vanguard Sports shortly after the Nigerian U-17 team, Golden Eaglets defeated the Junior Eagles of Mali on Sunday at the U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar.

Ugbe said that the athletes were in camp preparing for the sports festival and that there is the hope that the athletes will do well at the festival.

He said that the number of athletes the state will be presenting at the sports festival will be based on the number of events the state will be participating in.

Commenting on the outcome of the match between the Golden Eaglets and the Junior Eagles of Mali which ended 2-0 in favour of the Nigerian lads, Ugbe said that it was expected that the match was going to be tough as it was the last lap of the qualifying matches.

The Commissioner who enthused that the luck of the city (Calabar) had played out at the encounter said, "We are happy we that they (Eaglets) won the match. It was not an easy one, it was a difficult match and it was understandable because this is the last lap of the qualifying stage."