Kunle Adelabu
The Director General of the Lagos State Sports Commission and sponsor of the RenewedHope Invitational Table Tennis Challenge, Mr Oluwatoyin Gafaar Bolowotan, has stated that best table players were brought together in Lagos for engagement.
The tournament, which was held at the Teslim Balogun on Saturday, June 12, was in conjunction with the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), the Lagos State Sports Commission and other stakeholders in the sporting circle.
Bolowotan, speaking with THE IMPACT during the opening matches of the 13th edition of the Bolowotan Gold Cup, a football tournament he has been sponsoring solely and which is being organised by the Ikorodu Divisional Football Association (IDFA), at the Police Barracks Playing Ground, also said that the emergency table tennis tournament was put in place to engage youths productively and prevented them from participating in violent protest.
The Lagos Sports DG also said that 16 best table tennis players each in male and female categories were invited across the country to take part in the RenewedHope tournament in Lagos with encouraging incentives for participants.
He said that amongst the participants are some of the best table tennis players in Africa.
“For the RenewedHope Table Tennis Tournament, we brought together the best 32 players in Nigeria and we gave them participation fee and as they progressed, we doubled the participation fee and at the end of the day, even if you don’t win, you will be happy going home and that’s the spirit in sports”, Bolowotan said.
“You don’t win at all cost because you can’t win all the time.
“We invited the best players in Nigeria, top 16 in both male and female categories. Among them, we had the No 2, 4 and 6 who played in the tournament and it was lovely. We had a fun – filled day”, he said proudly.
Explaining why the idea was conceived, Bolowotan said that the invitational tournament was aimed at providing the youths an avenue to be positively engaged.
“The organization (of the RenewedHope Invitational Table Tennis Challenge) was very tactical and deliberate. Deliberate in the sense that it was June 12 and there was a lot of confusion with some saying that people should stay at home because there was going to be a protest”, Bolowotan said.
“We just looked at the situation and came up with an emergency tournament because there should be something to do if you don’t want to stay at home.
“We deemed it fit to organize the tournament to discourage our children from going out to demonstrate. Of course, we are not against ‘Soro soke’ (protest) but we don’t want them to protest and engage in acts of destroying things. That is what we tried to curb and that is the essence of the tournament”, he further explained.
He assured that the invitational table tennis engagement will not be one –off event but will be sustained.
“Whatever that we started, we always sustain it. It’s not a matter that one is a Director – General. We started the Bolowotan Cup 14 years ago and it has been on since then.
“Our joy is to see our children progressing. That is the joy”, he assured.
