Excitement at Maiden National School Racket Games

 Over 200 Students from different states across the country converged under one umbrella but competed under different teams at the maiden National School Racket Games organised by the Nigeria School Sport Federation (NSSF).

The students drawn from Primary, junior and senior secondary schools across Nigeria have been in Lagos for five days competing in Table Tennis and Badminton events with the sole aim of outwitting one another for the coveted prizes in the 12 titles at stake at the championships taking place at the indoor hall of the National Stadium Lagos.

Apart from the host Lagos, Rivers, Adamawa and Kano are part of the tournament which ends on Thursday, September 2.

The tournament was kickstarted with a one-day coaching clinic for Teachers handled by technical officials from the Nigeria Badminton Federation (NBF) and Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF)

Speaking ahead of the grand finale, NSSF President Olabisi Joseph, said the event is part of federation’s efforts to harness the budding sports talents that abound in schools.

“NSSF is intentional about ensuring mass participation in sports with the aim of providing every Nigerian child with a unique sporting experience in school while identifying exceptional talents and inculcating the intrinsic value of sportsmanship, teamwork, determination, discipline and fair play from an early age.

She added: “Sports such as table tennis and badminton have proven to be beneficial in improving eye-hand coordination and cardiovascular health of players which cumulatively stimulates mental alertness and improves academic performance.”

President of NBF Francis Orbih commended NSSF for their genuineness and intentional efforts to support the federation to unravel talents from schools, describing the partnership as a long time exercise that would be expanded in near future.

“The head coach of the junior and national teams is part of the exercise to identify talents from the tournament with the aim of grooming them to become national champions that will represent the country at major international competitions. We are indeed excited with the platform created by NSSF for us to discover talents and we hope it is sustained,” Orbih said.