Ondo Rues Exist From Traditional Sport

The Ondo State contingent to the 17th National Sports Festival has lamented  the quarter final exit of its men team from traditional games popularly known as Ayolopo in Yoruba.

The head of the team, coach Shola Dipo who said this in an interview with Tidesports in Port Harcourt described the situation as a big blow to the state.

Coach Dipo however blamed the situation on bad luck, pointing out that his state has never had such a dismal outing in Ayolopo which he claimed originated from Yorubaland, but noted that the team is consoled by the fact that its female team won gold.

“The female won one gold, but the men crashed out in the quarter final of the competition. In everything in sports there is an element of luck, so luck is not on our side for this competition.

“We prepared very well for the competition, so for me as a person we tried our best, but luck was not on our side” he said.

He however said that the team will go back to the drawing board to ensure that it never repeats this mistake in the next festival which holds in Lagos.

The coach said that the game is played indoor capable of creating employment for Nigerian youths, stressing that before the game which was played by few states in the country, is now played  by 21 states.