New Board Plans Big For Tennis In Lagos

New board of Lagos State Tennis Association

The new board of Lagos State Tennis Association (LSTA) has revealed a turning around for the sport in the new dispensation after it was inaugurated by the government on Monday.

Forty boards of sports associations, tennis inclusive, were inaugurated by the Executive Chairman/Chairman Governing Board of Lagos State Sports Commission, Dr. Kweku Tandoh on behalf of the Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Monday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium.

The board of tennis association comprises Mr.  Tokunbo Jaiye-Agoro as the chairman, Olumide Odusoga as the vice chairmen, with  Bankole Asaolu, Ehi Eguator, Hakeem Adetoro and Mrs. Yejide Taiwo are members of the board, while Taiwo Adelu serves as the Media Attaché of the association.

The new chairman, Mr. Jaiye-Agoro  told PM EXPRESS that he and his other colleagues on the board will get down to work immediately to reposition the game of tennis in Lagos.

He said the first line of work to be done is to work closely with the Secretary of the association to come up with a comprehensive data base of tennis players, technical officials such as coaches, referees and umpires, as well as the ball boys in the state.

“We must begin to look at the standard of our players, referees, coaches and the ball boys. These are important stakeholders that must not be ignored in this game and their quality is very important if we must develop tennis in Lagos.

“We must get down to work immediately. Our plan is to take tennis to the schools across the state. Tennis should be included in the school curriculum. At Physical Education (PE) period in the schools,  pupils and students should undergo a level of training where they will play tennis. By this we would begin to expose them to the rudiments of the game at their tender ages.

“It is also my dream to see that at least every local government in Lagos State should have a functional tennis court.

“During our tenure in office, we will ensure that tennis in Lagos State has its annual calendar. This calendar will not only help us harmonise all competitions being staged in the state, but also give us the programme outlook for each year for effective planning.

“In the area of sponsorship drive, each member of the association will use our different networks to woo into the sport corporate sponsors. The plan is for us to have different levels of competitions on our calendar in such a way that we will have other international tennis tournaments being played in Lagos other than the annual Lagos Open Tennis Championship, formerly the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis,” said Mr. Jaiye-Agoro.