70 Badminton Players To Play Erelu Oluwatoyin Cup

The sportshall of the Lagos State Sports Council,Rowe Park, Yaba, will come alive Thursday through Friday as seventy Badminton players have declared their interest to feature in the Erelu Oluwatoyin tourney.

The Championship sponsored by Erelu Oluwtoyin would attract badminton players in the Junior and Senior categories as cash prizes and valuable awards would be given to winners.

While speaking with the sponsor, Oluwatoyin, said the tournament was designed to uplift the standard of the sport which according to him was in a doldrum, adding that there is urgent ot regenerate the standard of the game to meet international standard as she promised that the second edition woud be more glamorous that the maiden edition because she would add more programmes to the tournaments.


The former National Badminton player who is based in Republic of Ireland, said he and his colleagues were exposed to series of tournaments during his playing days but the trend had deminished due to lack of sponsors and inability of the Nigeria Badminton Federation to attract numerous corpoarte boie to support their project centred on developping te sport.

While regarding the event as a measure to give back to the community, Oluwatoyin, said the Federation should endeavor to organise regular refresher courses for the nation's Badminton coaches to keep them abreast of lastest happening in the sport, adding that such move would also aid the coaches to impact positively on their wards who in turn would be a better players having acquired necessary skills to stand out in international competitions.

She also urged the Federation to deem it necessary to organise regular clinic/camp for young badminton players in a bid to create a virile platform for the growth of Badminton and also to discover players who would be groomed to become future stars.

The Lagos State Sports Council has commended Oluwatoyin zeal to add value to the sport and the state's badminto players who have been yarning for badminton action after the last concluded National Sports Festival, tagged Garden City Games as the sports council believed that the competition would serve as means of keeping the badminton players in shape for the forthcoming National Sports Festival in Lagos, 2012.