As the competition its Day 4, Director General of Lagos State Sports Commission, Mr Oluwatoyin Gafaar has applauded the performance of the athletes of Team Lagos in the ongoing 7th National Youth Games in Asaba, Delta State.
Gafaar said the results coming as at Tuesday show that the athletes are all good ambassadors of the state, adding that as the tournament progresses more medals are going to be won.
“I am glad about the performance of my athletes so far. They are making us proud. I think they are responding very well to what we had impacted on them with good training.,” he said after watching Lagos picking silver medal in the table tennis girls’ singles event Tuesday afternoon.
The DG noted the contribution of the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who he said has been supportive in making the outing to the Games a success and possible,
According to him, the magnanimity of the Governor has pushed us to this stage and I am happy that the kids are reciprocating with their performance to show our dear Governor he is not supporting them in vain.
“As a responsible father, he has been very supportive in everything we re doing,” he said.
Gafaar emphasised the policy of sticking to the rules being practice in Lagos, a result of which make most of the Team Lagos scaling the hurdles of screening before the tournament began on Saturday.
“Lagos has been showing class in whatever we are doing. That is the reason we are called “Centre of Excellence”. We will maintain of our profile. We know that some of our athletes are ageing, and there should be programme in place to replace the older ones. That is why we are so determined to put more resources in this developmental programme.
“Everybody knows that we don’t cut corners in Lagos State. Our policy of developmental programme is real and we must make sure that the rules of the game are followed spiritedly and to the letters.
Gafaar also disclosed the mutual working relationship between the Sports Commission and various clubs in Lagos, even as he commended these clubs for supporting the Commission to ensure a successful outing in the 7th National Youth Games.
“I must commend Ikoyi Club, Lagos Country Club in Ikeja and other private clubs in Lagos which believes in our programmes on grassroots sports. They have been supportive in our public/private partnership to drive sports development in the state.
“We are forging a strong synergy with our stakeholders, most especially the parents and I want to commend all parents of these kids for believing in us by releasing their children to participate in the Youth Games. I am happy that we have some of them here who came all the way from Lagos to see things for themselves, and feelers I got from them has been that they are happy seeing their children making the state proud. I must confess, I really appreciate all our parents for their support,” Gafaar said.
