After months of lull in the refurbished National Stadium Swimming Pool, Surulere, a sport enthusiast and the consultant to the pool, Joseph Odobeatu, says the pool will soon be busy with activities.
Odobeatu, the Chairman of OJEZ Communications, made the revelation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos on the just-concluded 4th Zenith Bank/Ikoyi Club 1938 Swimming Competition in Lagos.
NAN reports that the grassroots development swimming competition co-sponsored by Zenith Bank and Ikoyi Club was held at the Swimming Section of the Ikoyi Club 1938 on April 4.
The young students for the one-day swimming fiesta were from selected 12 primary schools and six secondary schools in Lagos.
The selected schools include Grange School, Ikeja, Corona Schools, Ikoyi, British International School (BIS), Lekki, Greenspring Schools, Temple School, Italian International School, Victoria Island and St Saviour’s School, Ebute Meta.
Others are, Lagos Preparatory and Secondary School, Ikoyi, Kings School, X Factor, Ikoyi, Edgewood College, Kristo Ball Schools and Children International School, Lekki.
The events during the competition included Freestyle 50m, Backstroke, Breaststroke Freestyle and Medley Relay in the boys and girls U-7, U-9 and U-13 categories.
Odobeatu disclosed that there were scheduled sports events that would keep the National Stadium swimming pool busy till next year.
“We have lined up several competitions for the swimming pool which will be immediately after the rain, but the Water Polo will be coming up by the end of July.
“In readiness for the events, we have recently carried out some maintenance works on the pool and we have also already test run it.
“Towards the end of the year and beginning of next year the swimming pool will be very busy because we want to promote more competitions in swimming.
“We as sports enthusiasts will continue to give our full commitment to seeing that sports is effectively harnessed to produce the desired result in Nigeria,’’ he said.
Odobeatu described Zenith Bank/Ikoyi Club 1938 Swimming Competition as a good preparatory event with the possibility of churning out great swimmers for Nigeria.
“This competition is getting better every year and we can only expect a greater thing coming out here because the organisers have been able to up their game.
“This year has seen a lot of improvement even with the combination of the primary and secondary school categories. This is one of our expectations.
“Today, we have seen the children displaying their aggressiveness in swimming, every one of them trying to beat their records.
“I also praise the parents who have been supporting these children for their dreams to come true. We have a competition with a great potential of producing great swimmers for Nigeria,’’ he said.
