Youthful Team Lagos Take Back 2nd Position At 6th National Youth Games In Ilorin

Youthful Team Lagos ended the 6^th edition of the National Youth Games defying all odds to maintain their 2019 edition’s record in this year’s tournament at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State.

In a Games characterized by poaching, overaged players and cheating, as testified by the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare during his speech at the closing ceremony on Tuesday, Team Lagos, which paraded mostly young athletes, won a total of 72 medals (19 gold, 25 silver and 28 bronze medals).

Interestingly, three days before the final day, Team Lagos were far below the top 10 on the medal table, as the state’s young athletes competed with their seniors, but with determination and their youthful agility, fighting it out to finish in the second position.

Delta State came first with 60 gold, 26 silver and 28 bronze medals, while Team Edo were third with 18 gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze medals.

Speaking during the closing ceremony, Director of Sports Development (DSD) in the Lagos State Sports Commission, Mr Moses Kolawole described the performance of the Lagos team as wonderful, adding that “we prepared very well before we came for this tournament. Our happiness is that we came here with genuine U-15 athletes and at the end of the day we performed excellent well and retained our second position.

“Ater this games, we will go back to the drawing board to re-strategise for future tournaments. But I must confess, Nigeria can only get better if we can begin to do it right by fielding young athletes for this kind of competition, using overaged athletes is not the best for this kind of age-grade tournament,” Kolawole said.