Commends Gov AbdulRazaq for financial and moral support…

By Demola Akinyemi, Ilorin

The Executive Chairman Kwara state Sports Commission Adisa Bolakale Mogaji has exuded confidence that the state contingent to the Gateway Sports Festival will win medal in Squash,Table Tennis and possibly Badminton,and will also spring surprises in other aspects, they had seriously worked on, stressing that, everyone knows that Kwara is the home of Squash.

Though he generally expressed optimism that Kwara contingent will perform better than the last fiesta,Mogaji chuckled about the low state of athletes in the state.

“Everybody knows. Athletics. It used to be our strongest hold in the 70s but now they are lagging behind, the coaches, the association have done a lot that’s why we are encouraged to take them and i can assure you, they will get to the podium, but I won’t say if it is gold, silver or bronze.”he said.

Mogaji who spoke in an interview with Saturday Vanguard Friday on the sideline of the takeoff of the contingent from the Ilorin stadium to Ogun state, capital particularly commended Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for the financial and moral support to the athletes, adding that the state has never had it so good.

“We thank the executive governor of Kwara state, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq , that has supported us financially, morally and as well, you can see the number of buses that are going and we have over 300 athletes and officials.

” We have not had it so nice, we thank God and everyone supporting us, because we can’t do it without the press.”

“We are very prepared and i use to tell people, I’m not promising that we are going to win 20 to 30 medals, but i can assure you that we are going to do better than the last festival.

“I don’t want to start mentioning squash, everybody knows that Kwara state is the home of squash, so we are going to take if not all, all the medals in squash, table tennis is another area.”he said.

Mogaji however expressed concern that,”Badminton would have been our area as well, unfortunately our players are representing Nigeria and they are going to be playing against us which i asked them, if they win, will the medals be counted for Kwara? They said No, it is very terrible, it has never happened before, I think the organizers should consult us, we can’t train our athletes for years and come now to claim them.”

On how many sports the state is participating in and chances of winning medals,he said:”We are leaving here with about 29 sports, Football, athletics, Crickets, Squash, Swimming and so on. We know our area of strength, i can assure you we are going to win with our area of strength and we are going to make surprises, we have worked with our athletes and i can assure you. Cycling, chess, Scrabble, those are new areas we are expecting to do very well.”

He added that,”the objective of any government is to have a social responsibility, that is what we are doing, we are not going there to win money, we are going there to participate and government has spent a lot of money , our responsibility is to take them from here, get them where to sleep, feed them, we did insurance for them and we are bringing them back. If at the end of the tournament, they did so well and they are impressed by his Excellency, the governor will do the needful.”

Mogaji also recalled that he had been part of the festival from the beginning till today,”I’m saying it with confidence that i am part and parcel of the festival from the beginning till today, I was there 73, 75, 77, 79, up to 88, 89 as an athlete and after that, I started as coach, organizer and administrator.

“The objective of the festival is not to win at all costs. Let me tell you briefly, after the civil war, Akioye Ibrahim and so on spoke to the then Governor, let’s foster unity, let us start sport activities with the 12 states then, the first festival was held in Lagos in 1973, and had 3 categories, junior, intermediate, senior. I could remember vividly that our football team which our governor was in the team, we played against East central, they gave us 12-0, they brought over aged individuals.”

” But I could remember in 1985, they could not do senior, they did intermediate. I could remember then another problem, people were not honest. They said as long as you have represented Nigeria, you can’t participate and it is wrong and that is what brought us to where we are today.

“The game should be judged on how capable the coaches are not how old the players are.”he said