The 2nd edition of White Bird Taekwondo Academy Under-15 championship which was held at the Nigeria Institute for Sports (NIS) Gymnasium Hall, paraded no fewer than 150 Taekwondo participants from in and out of Lagos metropolis stormed National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos on 29th June 2019 for a showdown.
Briefing the newsmen at the event, Ms Anita Aluya made it clear that the championship was being organized to shape the participants’ skill for future Olympics where they’ll not only make a name for themselves but also make Nigeria proud.
“From what I’m seeing here, we’re not preparing the athletes for Tokyo 2020 Olympics as they
did not take part in the trial which makes it impossible for them to take part in the coming
Olympics”
“As you can see, some are even babies and the older ones are in secondary school. The event
is students oriented programme with pupils fallen between the required age bracket while those
those who are above the required age were disqualified from taken part in the championship”
However, the head coach of the Lagos State Taekwondo Association, Mr. Bamidele Kazeem commended the initiative while he promised to absorb the raw talents discovered during the championship into the state team.
“We have seen raw talents here and it is very important we take it up from here and absorbed them
into Lagos state Taekwondo team where we’ll further prepare them for the next National Youth Games coming up in Ilorin, Kwara State”. he stated
