22nd July, 2010
Barely a month after the screening exercise that involved over three hundred athletes, Adopt-A-Talent Sports programme of Lagos State Government has released a list of 87 players picked from the six sports approved by the state governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN).
According to the details made available by the Technical Committee Chairman of Adopt-A-Talent, Ewa Henshaw, football in both Under-14 and Under-18 categories has the highest number with 22 players each scaling the hurdles to the final stage.
Athletics and basketball occupied the second position with 10 players each, while six of the players in athletics are women.
Table tennis came third with nine players of which three are from the same home address at 28, Akinola Street, Ladi-Lak in Bariga Local Government Area.
The most interesting aspect of the talent hunt was the inclusion of little and petit tennis prodigy, Qudus Adigun Surmer, who, at 7, topped the examiners list after the screening exercise. Surmer was born on 14 January, 2003 into the family of Mr. Adigun, a Table Tennis Coach in Somolu, Lagos, who has a brood of talented up-coming stars in his ward.
Other qualifiers in the table tennis include Olaniyan Muizdeen from Okepopo Street, Alimot Abolore Ayinla of 17, Ajanaku Street, also from Lagos Island. Others are the duo of Nimota Aregbesola and Bosede Odusanya of 6, Kano Street, Ebute-Metta and 13, Durosinmi Street, Somolu respectively.
The above listed players would join the quadruple of Abayomi Johnson, Ganiyu Quadri, Usman Ghazal and Okoronkwo Chidiebere from Bariga Local Government.
Volleyball has eight players on the final list with Alexander and her younger sister Faith, whileTaiwo Gideon, Miss Abosede Musa and Adeola Sulaiman also made the list.
In boxing, six budding pugilists were given the nod to the final round, as two women boxers, Tawa Awise and Abidemi Oshodi, joined their male counterparts in the final selection. The male boxers who made the list are Kehinde Adeyinka, Adeleke Kodus, Ibrahim Idris and Abiodun Taiwo.
However, the comprehensive list of the 87 selected players have been made available to their respective parents.