The 2023 Abiola Ojo Sports Festival Press Conference
On the 10th of February, the long-awaited press conference of the Abiola Ojo Sports Festival took place in NIALS serving as the official launch of the festival starting on the 17th of February. Hosted by the General Secretary of the LSS, Akinwande Tobani, and Odunlade Oyinkansola, the conference began with an opening prayer after which the Sports Secretary, Blessing Jesuniyi, welcomed the audience to this year’s conference. In his speech, he listed the games available at this year’s edition and informed the audience that due to the unavailability of facilities, there will be no track events this year. Also, schedules for the available activities will be communicated via class group chats.
Major Fixtures:
The indoor games kick off the festival next week Friday with the majority of the games happening in the faculty. However, the opening ceremony will be in the Sports Center on the 18th with a football game between previous finalists, Year 4, and the acclaimed best team in the faculty, Year 5 happening in the main bowl. Following this is a match-up between Year 3 and LSS Games debutants, Year 1. The remaining football games will be held at Abete field close to the second gate. All female football matches and basketball games will also hold in the Sports Center with the first matches also taking place on the 18th. Closing his speech, the sports sec stated his belief that his class will play in the football finals on the 4th of March to the whoops and cheers of Year 3 supporters in the audience. With the football games being the focal point of the press conference, here are the key talking points from Friday’s event.
Year 1:
Although their first match in the faculty ended in a huge 7–2 loss against the faculty team, the coach of the freshmen declared that they’ve been doing some work and improving on their potential. He backs up this claim by stating that Year 4 can testify, thanks to a 1–1 draw in a friendly match between both teams. He also boasted of a complete team with all their players being available and the addition of a professional footballer to their team. "Watch out for Year 1 in all the games, we’re coming,” the coach guaranteed.
Year 2:
In the words of the newly appointed gaffer, the most important thing to this team is to exorcise the demons of the previous competition and see how far they can go in this year’s edition. There have been several changes in personnel, the latest of which proves to be working for them as seen in their 2–1 friendly win against Year 1. After taking Gani to the finals of the inter-chamber games, the coach stated that his expectation for his team is better performance.
Year 3:
Dubbed the noisiest team in the faculty by some, the coach of this team began his interview by boldly stating that he has beaten every other team in the faculty asides the freshers. However, when asked if his team has managed a win against year 5 in the Abiola Ojo Games and not mere friendlies, the coach was rendered speechless. He made up for this by going a step further than his captain and promising that they will win the final.
There was a break in transmission by members of the Red Cross Association of the university who came to give a brief training on CPR and there was an announcement by Ori David Consult, one of the sponsors of the festival, who will be awarding the best player and highest goal scorers of the tournament for both male and female competitions. The other sponsors of the competition are the Professor Abiola Ojo family, F8 Ballers and YomsDirect.
Year 4:
The sports rep of Year 4 began by reminding the audience of their position as two-time winners of the LSS Games, with the trophy from their last conquest sitting on the table. When asked how many goals he would concede in the coming games, Utty ‘Basket’ replied, “I cannot say but I can say for sure that I am currently the only keeper in the faculty to have kept in a final.” This statement of fact led to jeers from the audience. Words were exchanged between Uthman and Gerald, Year 5’s man between the posts, as they defended their self-acclaimed roles as the best goalies in the faculty. The sports festival kicks off with a match against Year 4 and Year 5, a fixture for the ages by the looks of things, although we hear that Gerald will not be competing for his team this year.
Year 5:
Favorites to win the gold medal in this year’s games, the captain of Year 5 admitted that his team is known for playing good football and tells the audience to expect more of that from them. However, their style of play has been unable to win them the highly coveted trophy and when asked how they plan to remedy this, the coach responded more than once that it is “none of your business” and that all we should do is watch out for their performances this year. In what would be their final attempt to claim the gold medal in football, can the Stellar class of ’21 bow out gracefully or will they be remembered as the Tottenham Hotspur of the faculty?
The conference closed with a vote of thanks from the Sports Sec to everyone for attending this year’s conference followed by a photo session as everyone made their way out of the venue. The 2023 Abiola Ojo Sports festival promises to be packed with fun, thrill and never-ending drama. The Blog would like to urge everyone to come out in their numbers to support their classes as every team needs their 12th man. See you all on the 17th.
