Director General, Lagos State Sports Commission, Babatunde Bank-Anthony has expressed delight at the strong showing exhibited by Team Lagos at the just concluded 19th National Sports Festival in Abuja.
Speaking exclusively to The Point, the highly respected sports technocrat revealed that Lagos State came with young and talented athletes discovered in the state and all the athletes proved their mettle in the various sporting events they competed in.
He further assured that most of the young Team Lagos athletes will be ripe for the next edition of the competition.
“I am impressed with the strong showing of our young athletes in Abuja 2018 and you could see that we garnered lots of medals in the just concluded Games to reaffirm our strong belief that these athletes will be ready to take on other states in the next edition of the National Sports Festival.
“You can see that we did well in traditional sports where we won two gold medals in Ayo alone, aside other medals we won in the event and others.
“Regarding the facilities we met here in Abuja, I can confidently say that they are solid and there were no complaints from the athletes from the various states,” he said.
Bank-Anthony however took a swipe on the open nature of the competition saying it does not give room for the discovery of future athletes.
“When we have some athletes like Blessing Okagbare, Segun Toriola and Funke Oshonaike competing for other states, you can then ask, what’s the essence of such sporting competition? This is because this scenario does not give room for the discovery of future talented athletes.
“Also, this is why states will come to poach athletes from other states who are producing quality athletes with the intention of using them to win medals at the Games and after the Games they will dump them. This is sad!
“Lagos has been at the forefront of producing quality athletes but these states will keep poaching our athletes instead producing their own athletes,” Bank-Anthony said with a tinge of regret.
He finally revealed that Lagos State is currently upgrading six stadia located at various centres in the state to help provide solid training centres or facilities for the athletes.
