The city of power in Kwara State, Ilorin will come alive for the next 10 days as over 6000 converge for the 6th National School Sports Festival.

The sports fiesta will formally be opened tomorrow by the Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed.

Organisers, Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) have promised an exciting edition having received the full support of National Academicals Sports Committee (NASCOM).

Athletes are expected to compete in 17 scoring events and six demonstration games.

Defending champions, Cross River State are aiming to defend their title after the team was sent forth on Wednesday by the state governor, Liyel Imoke, who charged the team to retain the title.

Also, Niger State, a team that is yet to make it to the top spot at the tournament is aiming for a good outing in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

To create awareness within the city for the championship, a road show was yesterday organised to drum support from the host state.

NSSF has also promised to stage hitch-free games having put in place modalities to ensure that only bonafide and eligible athletes participate in the championship.

Secretary General of NSSF, Olabisi Joseph revealed screening of athletes holds today before the kick-off of most of the events.

"For us at NSSF, we are poised to staging a befitting games that will be without any hitch and one of the processes of achieving this is to ensure that we are strict with the screening and we are ready to punish any team found wanting," she said.