Edo 2020 NSF: Team Lagos Will Maintain Tradition Of Sports Excellence, Says Gafaar, DG Sports Commission

Lagos State contingent to the 20^th National Sports Festival, the Edo 2020 will compete clean to enhance and protect the image of the ‘Centre of Excellence’ which the state is known of.

Lagos State is regarded as the Nigeria’s sports hub, where the government plays high premium on developmental programmes to catch its athletes very young and build them to the stardom.

In the previous editions of the National Sports Festival, the state  is known to have never engaged in compete and win at all costs syndrome associated with some states, even when it hosted the Eko 2012 National Sports Festival.

“We are going to maintain the tradition of showcasing excellence in sports Lagos is ever known of in this year’s National Sports Festival, but this time with some modifications,” said Mr. Oluwatoyin Gafaar, the Director General of Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC) at the Teslim Balogun, Surulere during an exclusive interview on Saturday.

“If we talk about excellence, it must be total excellence so that by the time we come back from the Games, we might have exposed our athletes and at the same time win laurels. We are going to Edo 2020 to showcase our talents in sports and also to win laurels for the state. Showcasing talents alone cannot reflect in total what Lagos State stands for. The state stands for excellence, excellence in everything. On the medal table, we will be committed and we will be ready to give other states a very good run for their money, especially the traditional ‘Top Three’. They will see different Lagos this time around,” the astute sports administrator said.

Speaking on the ongoing closed camp of the athletes at different venues in the state, Gafaar said the athletes have been adequately camped since 6 March, 2020 and “this will be the longest ever closed camp the state has organised for its athletes from the record available to me. We are ready for the sports festival and more importantly, the support of the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has been so tremendous and we must deliver in order to appreciate the Governor’s support to us. The Governor understands our cause. He has given direction and he had spoken to the athletes especially during the presentation of the Torch of Unity in Alausa and he has encouraged them to be good ambassadors of the state. We are looking forward to a good outing from the athletes. To the best of my knowledge, we are more than ready for the Games.”

On the number of athletes Team Lagos will present for the Edo 2020 Games, the Director General noted that the qualification for the team events of the festival will make the numbers of athletes increase than the previous outings.

“Out of 19 team events, Lagos qualified for 16. This will no doubt affect our planning and we have been able to adjust on this. We are talking about football (male and female), handball, abula, basketball, hockey and others. This is large enough and almost half of the contingent we will have. These have also increased our medal hopefuls at the Games. We are ready to give the state the best to further support the aspiration of Mr. Governor,” he said.

To the athletes who are at their various closed camp, the Director General has these words for them. “I have talked to them and I have encouraged them and enjoined them to stay away from drugs, which is paramount in sports these days. We wish them success in all their outings and to always remember Lagos must be drugs free.”