Chairman Lagos State Taekwondo Association (LSTA), Jimmy Okunnowo, has said that the ongoing Lagos State Sports Festival tagged IBILE Games will afford the state a chance to get good athletes ahead of the forthcoming EKO Taekwondo Championship in July.
According to him, the association will get at least 32 taekwondists at the end of the competition which ends on Saturday.
Okunnowo, who sees the games as a positive measure towards paving the way for the growth of grassroots sports in the state, said the list of selected athletes would comprise of taekwondo athletes who won laurels as well as those who were eliminated at the preliminary rounds, stressing that the gesture was to give equal opportunities to the athletes especially those who were technically good but were unable to win laurels.
He added that the invited taekwondo athletes would be exposed to the nitty- gritty of the game so as to be in a good frame of mind ahead of the EKO Taekwondo Championship and subsequent tournaments.
According to him, athletes from other African countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Republic of Benin will compete with Nigerian taekwondo athletes at the tourney.
In the same vein, Nigeria’s international table tennis referee, John Peter, believes participating in IBILE Games will give Lagos’ ping pongers a good opportunity to excel at the South-West Secondary school championship tagged DAWN Games 2014 which holds from May 16 to 24 in Lagos.
Peter, who is the referee of the table tennis event at the IBILE Games said that he was convinced that the state’s table tennis players would live up expectations at the DAWN Games because the Lagos State Government has made available necessary logistics to boost the players’ morale to win laurels.
He noted that the positive approach of the Lagos State Government towards the growth of grassroots sports would encourage the table tennis players to surpass the records set at the 18th National Sports Festival tagged EKO 2012 Games.
He said the Junior Category of IBILE Games is a good preparatory ground for the players to represent the state at the DAWN Games, and the country at the African Youth Games as well as the Olympic Youth Games.
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