Squash Will Be Great Again says Oyerinde

Boye Oyerinde, a candidate seeking to head the Nigeria Squash Federation, has assured that his wealth of experience in the corporate world and the sports circle will be brought to bear if he succeeds in the election holding in Abuja on June 13.

He is the current Director of Tournaments and member of the Lagos State Squash Association and was in charge of the 2013 and 2014 Lagos International Squash Classic which 11 countries in attended.

He is lamenting the slow death of the game in Nigeria. He recently donated sports equipment to squash players in Ondo State.

At the occasion, he emphasized that players in Nigeria can become real global contenders if well harnessed under a visionary leadership and vibrant environment.

“Before the 2013 and 2014 Lagos International Squash Classics, we assembled eight of the top players in Nigeria at a camp in Lagos, sponsored their training programs through financial contributions and monitoring of their training programs.

In four months we realized that no other player could play at the level of these players in the country while one of them got to the finals of the 2013 LISC tournament.

Two of our players got to the quarter finals of the 2014 tournament despite a large presence of international PSA players.”

He assured that the board will hit the ground running if elected. “Through the support of the PSA, I am presently in touch with the National Urban Squash and Education Association in the USA to assist in developing a solid squash/educational youth program where good squash players from Nigeria can access educational scholarships.”

He stressed the need to unify the different factions within the Squash federation and direct their attention towards developing the game in Nigeria.

“The polarization of the sport has adversely affected its development. We have so many individuals and even corporate organizations who are interested in investing in squash, but because the house is not united and always in the news for bad reasons, these prospective partners are scared.

“We need all hands on deck to meet our objective of developing this great game and bring back the old glory to the game of squash in Nigeria.”