Team Lagos Begins Close Camping On Thursday.

After series of tournament organised to hone the skills of its athletes in readiness for the 18th National Sports Festival in Lagos, tagged EKO 2012, Team Lagos will commence close camping on Thursday October 4.

The 851 athletes called up for the camping will be housed in nine centres across the state.

 The centres are Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) in Ikorodu for chess, scrabble, Abula, Ayo, Dambe, Kokowa, Langa, wrestling, judo, para-table tennis and para-lifting; Myoung Barracks in Somolu will host hockey, handball, cricket, badminton and tennis;

Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere will house squash, athletics, deaf athletics, gymnastic and kickboxing; National Youth Service Camp (NYSC) Camp in Iyana Ipaja will be for football, taekwondo, weightlifting, and para-athletics while Union Bank Sports Club in Eric-Moore will welcome deaf table tennis and table tennis.

Volleyball and basketball camping will hold at the Police College in Ikeja, Jalisco Gymnasium in Oshodi will host boxing while Epe Recreation Centre will be for cycling.

 According to the chairman of Team Lagos Technical Committee, Babatunde Fatayi-Williams, the team would be in camp for 54 days, while also urging the athletes to work hard during the exercise in order to make the state proud during the festival.

“We have been working for the past months with our coaches and athletes and we are double sure they will do the state proud by performing creditably well,” he said.

 He thanked Governor Fashola and the Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development, Wahid Oshodi for their effort at improving the lives of youths through grassroots sports development and exposing them to world class competitions.

For Head Coach, Lagos State Sports Council, Kally Agogo, the coaching crew are fully prepared for the closed camp, with a minimum of three coaches for each sport.

 He stated that the coaching crew would be working round the clock during the closed camping to bring us the best in the athletes. “We are ready to engage our athletes during the closed camp with vigorous training activities to make them fully ready for the festival come November”, Agogo said.

However, the athletes have vowed to honour Governor Babatunde Fashola with good performance at the festival for what the governor has done for sports in the state with. Athletes’ representative, Olayide Fijabi, a gold medallist at the 17th edition in Port Harcourt, assured they have been motivated to do well at Eko 2012.