The Oyo State Tennis Association has named the players who will represent her at the National Youth Games holding in Ilorin, the Kwara State Capital.
According to Coach Tirimisiyu Ganiyu, Imole Afolabi and Rokibat Taiwo will be representing the girls while Mubarak Ganiyu and Onyekachi Ogumjiofor will be the anchor for the boys.
The players, all of whom he believes are up to the task, have been training privately as they wait for the state for further directives and plans for the competition.
“We have been training on our own, but there’s no camp for now.
“We’re waiting for the state to give us further directives on the next step ahead of the tournament,” the ever active Coach Ganiyu told Nigeria Tennis Live on Thursday morning.
While stating that the players are focusing on the tournament and will not participate in other competitions, they have shifted base to the Ibadan Recreation Club from Adamasingba Stadium, where they used to train.
According to him: “For now, no more tournaments before the Games, because we want to focus on our preparation.
“We want to appreciate his Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde, for his giant strides and his efforts paid off and contributed to the performance of our players at the recently concluded Sapetro Futures Tennis Championship in Lagos.
“We are most grateful to him and we pray that he does more for tennis.”
The state has now set a target of clinching gold at the competition this year having fallen short in 2019.
“At the last edition (in 2019), we had two silver and three bronze medals. But this time around, we’re gunning for gold.
“Imole, Michael Akinmusere and Mubarak won us the medals the last time. Mubarak has now come of age and this time, I believe we’ll do better,” the Oyo state coach added.
The competition is scheduled to hold from 9 – 19 October, 2021, inside the Sports Complex of the University of Ilorin.
Nigeria Tennis Live will be hoping to give the National Youth Games a wide coverage, especially for our teeming audience scattered across the globe.