Gbenro Adesina
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, on Tuesday December 22, 2020, declared open the Governor Tennis Tournament organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sport, stating that his administration was ready to develop sports and produce as many talents as possible across different sports.
Makinde, who expressed excitement at the sight of many young tennis talents who would be taking part in the competition, said his government would do everything to encourage the development of talents in the game.
According to statement signed by the spokesperson to the governor, Taiwo Adisa, the governor stated these at the Ibadan Recreation Club, Ibadan, where he launched the GSM Tennis Tournament, a brainchild of the Special Assistant on Sports to the governor, Oluwatobi Oyewumi.
Makinde stated, “We want to develop as many of these talents as possible and have our own Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Kevin Henderson, who is about the highest ranked tennis player from the continent of Africa”.
“I am sure that very soon, we will also have people from Nigeria. And I believe that from Oyo State, a tennis talent shall emerge soon. Mubarak is here and he is a great tennis talent that we have discovered. He is 13 years old and has beaten me several times. So, we will encourage him. We do hope by God’s grace that he may one day be our own Djokovic, number one player in the world. This is how tall our dream about tennis is”, he added.
