TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The Chairman, Osun State Table Tennis Association, Ayo Alabi has said that he built an international standard table tennis house in Osogbo to discover talents and raise world champions from Osun State.
Alabi stated this while featuring on the ‘Stakeholders’ Forum’, a monthly guest appearance programme of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Osun State Chapter in Osogbo on Wednesday.
He said the state of the art facility was constructed at the Osogbo Township Stadium to complement efforts of the government in the sports development and create an arena for raising world stars in table tennis.
The sports administrator then advised other well meaning indigenes of Osun, home and in the diaspora, to come and invest in sports to create a platform where the gifted and talented youth would showcase their talents to the world and build future for themselves and their family.
According to the the Otan-Ayegbaju born philanthropist, “we constructed this edifice to raise champions in Table Tennis from Osun. This is because the only way to empower the youth is to create a platform to showcase their skills and assist them to grow in it. This can only happen if required facilities are put in place.”
“Osun has potentials to do well in table tennis and other games but facilities to groom these athletes are not there. This is why I decided to construct the edifice as part of my family’s social responsibility to give back to my state.”
He disclosed that the hall will be officially commissioned and open for use on Saturday by the state governor, Gboyega Oyetola.
Speaking on what Osun people should expect after the commissioning of the edifice, Alabi said, “We are going to host all categories of Table Tennis competitions from Primary to University here. There will be Principal’s Table Tennis Competition, Governor’s Table Tennis Cup and many others that will assist our youth and make the place lively. We will also have a table tennis Academy where young talents will be nurtured to international level. With these, we are confident that Osun will soon raise champions in Table Tennis.”
He hinted that the state government had asked him to organise a Governor’s Cup in table tennis across the state in order to kick start efforts at discovering talents in grassroots.
In their remarks, Chairman, Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Osun State Chapter, Timothy Agbor and the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Sports Development, Vincent Akinbami lauded Alabi for deeming it fit to situate the edifice at the Osogbo Township Stadium which according to them, is always accessible to athletes.
While Akinbami urged other Osun wealthy indigenes to emulate this gesture, Agbor assured him of readiness of Osun SWAN to collaborate with him with a view to promoting competitions that will be hosted in the hall.
