No fewer than 150 young budding talents participated in the of Fast and Famous Skateboarding competition on Saturday in Lagos.
During the event which took place at the National Stadium, Surulere, Oke Joseph (Razor) and Fatima Adebowale emerged champions of the boys and girls category, respectively.
According to Goodness Davies, organizer of the event, the competition was a prelude to the main event scheduled to take place from Dec. 10 to Dec. 14, 2021 in Lagos.
“We are excited to organize a successful event which saw young budding skateboarders from the Lagos environs coming up to compete and have fun.
“The sport is gradually picking up in Nigeria; as at 2017 survey, we realized there are no fewer than 30,000 registered skateboarders nationwide.
“We want to give skateboarding a lift in Nigeria most especially it is now an Olympic sport; we believe that soon our athletes will be able to fly the national flag high at that level,” Davies said.
He said that with hard work and coming together of several corporate world and the government, skateboarding could also become something huge in Nigeria.
“We need investors to come and empower the youths by sponsoring sporting events; as a brand manager and young entrepreneur, I believe we can turn skateboarding to a huge success in Nigeria,” Davies said.
Similarly, Oke Joseph, who came first in the male category after 50 enduring laps of skateboarding race, said that he was delighted to be the winner.
He said that the youth need more of such events and debunk claims that the sport was dominated by hooligans and layabouts.
“We are not hooligans, we are simply passionate skateboarding fans and we work hard to develop ourselves in the sport.
“I also want to use the opportunity to thank the sponsors and organizers of this event it was a great one as many young skateboarders came out in their numbers.
“At the end I emerge the winner because I worked hard for it and also looking for more competitions of this nature, “Joseph said.
In the female category, Fatima Adebowale (16) who came first said she was delighted to be the winner at the end of the 50 laps race.
“I want to say a big thank you to the organizers indeed it has been a source of motivation and encouragement.
“I pray for more competitions of this nature and hope the sport can develop. More young athletes like me,” Adebowale said.(NAN)
