NAN
Oyo State is to feature in four sports in the National Youth Games, scheduled to hold in Ilorin from Sept. 7 to Sept. 18.
The Acting General Manager of the Oyo State Sports Council, Gboyega Makinde, made the announcement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Tuesday.
He said that the state would be featuring in basketball, cricket, beach volleyball and hockey and that the teams were all boys.
The manager expressed his happiness over the state’s qualification in the sports, describing the council’s grassroots sports development as successful.
“This development shows that what we started about two years ago as regards looking for talents at the grassroots is already yielding positive results.
“This is an achievement for both the state and the coaches.
“I give kudos to the coaches because they moved around schools in search of these raw talents.
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“Again, this shows that we have developed in sports and we will not relent in getting better.
“In the future, I believe we will be battle ready to weather any storm, adding that the council would not relent on its grassroots programmes.
“Part of the strategy we put in place is the holiday training clinic.
“If you move around the stadium now, you’ll see our young lads training in all kinds of sporting activities.
“During every holiday in the state, we occupy our young stars and encourage them to always come for training,” he said.
On their chances at the games, Makinde said: “we have a good chance and we would definitely build up and improve on our record at the last edition of the competition.
“When the athletes perform well, it will give us the satisfaction that the programmes are yielding positive results.”