Odusanya, Adegoke win Molade Okoya-Thomas tennis competition – Sports – The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News

Bose Odusanya and Muiz Adegoke won the men’s and women’s divisions of the 54th Molade Okoya-Thomas Table Tennis Championships at the weekend. The competition took place at the Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall in Teslim Stadium, Lagos.

Continuing her title streak, Odusanya whitewashed Anu Anjuwon 4-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6) to retain her title in the women’s category, while Adegoke who stopped the streak. The defending champion, Rilwan Akanbi in the quarterfinals, eventually took the men’s title after defeating the former champion 4-2 (11-7, 15-13, 11-6, 8-11, 6-11, 11-6).

Speaking about the victory, Odusanya attributed his success to hard work.
I am very thankful to God that he won this tournament for a record eighth time. It’s not my strength and I didn’t even feel good playing in this year’s tournament.
Winning the last eight didn’t mean I didn’t have competition in Lagos. I had to work harder because I knew there are other players who train hard. But for me, I always set my goals very high and put God first. So I believe God helped me to win this tournament every year, he said.

To Adegoke, winner of the men’s category: I was supposed to play in the final last year but I couldn’t. So, I am really excited to win my first senior title at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Championship this year. I participated in my first national sports festival this year and it really helped me improve and I hope to play in this tournament next year and win.

Meanwhile, the head of the Okoya-Thomas family, Ayodeji Okoya-Thomas, has chosen Adegoke for the honour. He said: To see a young lad who has just come through a junior tournament to win the men’s singles final is really heartening for the family.

This year is the 54th championship and the National Sports Festival kind of got in the way in terms of timing. But we had to make sure that the tournament goes ahead no matter what and we hope that next year we will have enough time to plan and prepare the calendar with the Lagos State Table Tennis Association. We hope to have a great tournament in the next issue as it will be the 55th edition. Its tradition is to make every fifth year different, he stated.