Host Bodija International Schools (BIS) and three others have advanced to the semifinals of the maiden edition of the Kayode Eso football tournament, which is sponsored by the school’s management.
The other schools in the last four are International School Ibadan (ISI), King’s College, and Lead City.
BSI defeated Ever Flourish School 1-0, while ISI beat City of Faith School 2-1 in another quarterfinal stage.
Lead City High School thrashed Fontana International School 3-1, and King’s College beat All Souls School 2-1 in the last game of the day. The previous four are scheduled between ISI and Lead City today, while King’s College will slog it out with BIS in the second semifinal.
Speaking after the match, Mr Olumide Eso, the Director of Schools at Bodija International School, expressed his satisfaction with the turnout of spectators and applauded the participating schools for demonstrating their potential on the field of play.
He said they hosted the competition to honour the late Mr Kayode Eso for his involvement in sports during his lifetime.
According to Olumide Eso, son of the deceased, “At our college, it was a good thing to honour the late Kayode Eso. We have also been involved in soccer and football in our school BIC.
“The reason is that we want to discover soccer talents and, at the same time, keep them meaningfully occupied, focused, and disciplined. That is why we chose soccer and any kind of tournament at this point,” he said.
“Also, as talent discovery is part of extracurricular activities, what we do here is to bring out talent and passion from students. We are very passionate about this. We want to bring out the best in every individual, which is why we allow a lot of free hands to partake in this.
“Apart from these that we are doing here, we also have academics, we write books, we write literature, and we are very much involved in athletics, particularly in relay races.”
