2nd October, 2012
Ahead of the Junior Governor’s Cup in Lagos, two players each, from male and female categories have been selected to represent Lagos State at the maiden championship, which serves off this weekend at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Court, Onikan, Lagos.
The players are Innocent Joseph and Olalekan Bello in the male category, while the female category has Deborah Iyiola and Marylove Edward. The players, who earned their places through a just concluded Junior Tennis Championship, which also served as the qualifier for the Junior Governor’s Cup, really worked hard to qualify for the tourney.
Speaking with P.M.NEWS at the tennis court of the National Stadium, chairman, Lagos State Tennis Association, LSTA, Dr. Adewunmi Adeyemi Gbenro expressed satisfaction with the level of competition at the qualifier while stating that the association is trying to develop future champions for Lagos State and the country at large.
“If you looked at the players while they were playing, you’d have discovered that they had some bad habits which the tournament has helped them to reduce.
“Apart from that, grassroots sports development is also our priority and seeing these players slugging it out in a fierce contest will make them better players for the state and the country in the nearest future,” he said.
Dr. Gbenro who also blamed the dearth of junior tourneys on the association’s inability to get sponsors, called on corporate bodies to assist the association to organise regular junior tennis championships in the future.
“We have this dream of identifying and nurturing talents but we need sponsors to do so. We spoke with some people but we could only get Justin Andrews (which sponsored the junior tennis championship). If we can get more sponsors, then there will be regular championships in the future and the state will fare better as far as tennis is concerned,” he said.
Entries for the Junior Governor’s Cup will close today.
—Damilare Okunola