The tennis player who was hitting balls with Ex-Military Administrator of Bayelsa State, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (retd), before his demise, has recounted the last moments before the incident.
Reports about Olubolade slumping and passing away while playing tennis had made the rounds on Monday, after the incident which took place on Sunday evening.
The former Minister of State for the FCT, reportedly drove himself to the tennis facility at the Navy Tennis Club, Apapa, Lagos, where the incident occurred, and Nigeria Tennis Live has gathered more information about the occurrence.
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“On Sunday I can home from camp (ahead of the National Sports Festival) because I there was no training that day, so I just went home to wash my clothes and everything because I stay in the barracks and the tennis court is in the barracks.
“In the evening, I went to the salon to cut my hair and on my way to pack my bags and everything so that I could go back to the camp, he said ‘are you around?’ and I said yes sir. He asked me again ‘are you not playing tennis?’ and I said ‘I’m sorry sir, I am late sir, I need to go back to camp sir’.
“He then said ‘okay, let’s just play for 5 minutes then I will go’… I couldn’t say no to him at this point. It was when we were playing that he just slumped.
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“I feel sad oo, and it was like I was dreaming when I heard that he had passed on,” the player who prefers to be anonymous, told Nigeria Tennis Live.
Another player who plays against Olubolade regularly, described the retired Naval Captain as a very passionate tennis lover.
According to him: “I played against him a few weeks ago, the man too love tennis.
“The man has the energy to stay on the court for hours, he can stand and play for over two hours. He’ll just stand there to take his water while standing and continue to play his tennis.
“This news is really sad o.”