Squash will be great again, says Oyerinde
NAN-S-12
Competition
By Babatunde Ogunrinde
Lagos, June 2, 2017 (NAN) Boye Oyerinde, a squash enthusiast, said on Friday in Lagos that the game will be great again in Nigeria if professionals were involved in its management.
Oyerinde, an aspirant seeking election as President of Nigeria Squash Federation (NSF), assured that with his wealth of experience in the sports circle, the game would pick up if elected.
Oyerinde, currently Director of Tournaments and member of the Lagos State Squash Association who handled the 2013 and 2014 Lagos International Squash Classics, lamented the dearth of the game in Nigeria.
According to him, players in Nigeria can become real global contenders if well harnessed.
“Before the 2013 and 2014 Lagos International Squash Classics, we assembled eight of the top players in Nigeria at a camp in Lagos and sponsored their training programs through financial contributions and monitoring of their training programmes.
“In four months, we realised that no other player could play at the level of these players in the country while one of them got to the finals of the 2013 LISC tournament.
“Two of our players got to the Quarter finals of the 2014 tournament despite a large presence of international PSA players” Oyerinde said.
He assured that the board will hit the ground running if elected during the National Sports Federations election slated for Abuja on June 13.
“Through the support of the PSA, I am presently in touch with the National Urban Squash and Education Association in the USA to assist in developing a solid squash/educational youth programme.
“We intend to raise good squash players from Nigeria and strive to access educational scholarships for the professional players,’’ he said.
According to the director, the need to unify the different factions within the Squash federation and direct their attention towards developing the game in Nigeria has become paramount.
“The polarisation of the sport has adversely affected its development.
“We have so many individuals and even corporate organisations who are interested in investing in squash, but because the house is not united and always in the news for bad reasons, these prospective partners are scared.
“We need all hands on deck to meet our objective of developing this great game and bring back the old glory to the game of squash in Nigeria.,” Oyerinde said.(NAN)
BAO/ECN/MEMO
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Edited by Emmanuel Nwoye/Mike Mbonye