The Third edition of the Bi-Annual Mini Sports Festival, Amuwo Games is set to hold in full gear this November.
According to the organizers of the event, the Games will stage in November 2021 as announced at the Press conference which held at the Amuwo LG Secretariat in Festac Town, Amuwo, Lagos State on Thursday October 14th 2021.
Gracing the press conference was Valentine Buraimoh, Amuwo LGA Chairman, Maureen Chika Ashara, Vice Chairman Amuwo-Odofin, Segun Idris, Chief of Staff, Seun Ayeni, chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, Councilor’s of various wards in Amuwo-Odofin LGA, amongst others.
Also present at the press conference were representatives of some sponsors such as Lanre Shittu Motors Nigeria Limited, Kunle Ologun Foundation, Olatokunbo Foundation, Alek Pharamcy, Dreamrite, Lanre Shittu, while other sponsors are Mama Amuwo, Perception Technologies, Darius Turf and others.
Hon. Buraimoh Valentine, delivered the keynote address and expressed his delight at being a part of the third edition. He praised everyone involved in the initiative and the success of the previous two editions. He emphasized the significance of sporting initiative in the discovery of talent and the development of communal relationships.
He also stated unequivocally that this type of event has not only financially empowered our youths, but has also significantly improved the level of peace in the local government. He also stated that this initiative would be expanded to other local governments in Lagos State as time goes on, as he was ecstatic about it.
The Sports festival will commence on 6th November and would hold on all weekends in the month to end on 28th Novemeber 2021.
A total of 17 Games that would be featured in this edition are Football, basketball, volleyball, chess, scrabble, swimming, athletics, table tennis, tennis, cycling, drought, amongst other sports.
Ayeni discussed the games available as well as the age groups in some of the sports.
“In the previous two seasons, we had 16 games, but this year we’re adding a fifth game, a five-aside competition.” Football, basketball, volleyball, chess, scrabble, swimming, table tennis, tennis, drought, and cycling are among the games available. Some of these games are divided by age group; we have U-13, U-17, and open divisions. Chess, scrabble, and swimming, for example, are divided into age groups. In addition, Amuwo Games hosts a 10-kilometer mini-marathon.”
Describing the participants, Seun Ayeni revealed that they are mostly Amuwo residents.
“Those who will participate are Amuwo inhabitants; in fact, they have begun to register, and as of this morning, about 600 people had done so.” We’ll have to perform some screening and some people will have to go through medical tests, so we’ll probably end up with roughly 500 athletes for the games.”
“We noticed that the youths are very energetic,” Ayeni said of the games’ inspiration. It occurred during an election year in 2017, which was causing widespread agitation. And because the youths were agitated at the moment, we came up with a plan because Amuwo is a bit volatile. So we decided to do something to divert these young people’s focus away from politics and onto something else, and we founded Amuwo Games. It was an effective technique for reducing youth restlessness and promoting youth growth.”
Recall that Amuwo Games started in 2017 and held its second edition in 2019.
