11th December, 2013
Ten years old Oyinlomo Quadri has been described as a teenager star that will one day become a world champion in her chosen career, lawn tennis.
This was the submission of Director of Sports, Lagos State Sports Council, Dr. Kweku Adebayo Tandor while speaking on the potentials of the pupil of Maryanne College, Lagos Island, who did not play Fives before but when she was drafted to feature in the event at the recently held 6th National Schools Sports Festival in Ilorin, Kwara State, she went on to win a gold medal for Team Lagos in Fives.
“I was so surprised to see the talent in this young girl who we drafted to play Fives for us at the Kwara 2013 School Sports Festival. Initially, she told us that she had not played the sport before she later obliged to take up the responsibility. This young girl went ahead to win a gold medal for us in Fives,” said Tandor, who was the secretary of the Local Organising Committee, LOC, of the Eko 2012 National Sports Festival.
“I discovered that this young girl has a natural ability which if properly nurtured will bring her to the world limelight of her chosen career, which is Tennis. To my surprise, other states officials who watched her winning gold medals for Team Lagos in Fives and Tennis told us that we should give her a close marking and groom her. They specifically said that we should try our best not to lose her,” he said.
Tandoh, however, disclosed that the state’s Sports Council will leave nothing to chance to ensure that Quadri and other athletes who shined for Team Lagos at the last School Sports Festival in Ilorin are given close attention.
“We were able to identify some good young athletes who were outstanding at the festival. One of them is Oyinlomo. I want to say that we will try our best to ensure that these athletes are properly groomed because they are the future glory of Lagos State in sports.
“The discovery of these young champions is as a result of our devotion to the development of sports at the grassroots as preached by the sports loving Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, whose love for sports knows no bound. At the Sports Council level, we’ll continue to harness our resources to bring out the best out of these young boys and girls because they are our future,” said Tandoh.