By Adekunle-Oni Daniel

The Zone B Pre-NUGA Games  will commence today, September 25, 2025.

The   Pre-NUGA  tournament is  required phase where universities compete within their designated zones for qualification into the main Nigerian University Games Association tournament (NUGA).

Zone B, one of the competitive regions in the NUGA structure, comprises the University of Ibadan (UI), Lead City University, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Bowen University, First Technical University, Ibadan (FTU), Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo, and the Federal University of Health Sciences, Ila-Orangun (FUHSI).

This year’s edition will see the University of Ibadan host the three-day sporting event.

The Pre-NUGA tournament will feature all fourteen official NUGA sports, including Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Chess, Football, Handball, Judo, Taekwondo, Tennis, Scrabble, Squash, Swimming, and Volleyball.

The University of Ibadan Students’ Union Sports Secretary, Kolawole Victor, confirmed  the preparedness of UI athletes for the tournament in an interview with IndyPress.

He said, “We are Uites, definitely we want all of our sportsmen to qualify and win their respective games. But our rivals are opponents, not pushovers, so we are not expecting less of a fight from them. We wish our athletes the best in their respective games and expect them to qualify for the main tournament.”

According to the flier obtained by IndyPress, eight sports will be played on the opening day.

Among the headline events is the much-awaited football match between the host university, UI, and LAUTECH.