Host, Ogun State dominated the recently concluded South West Junior Boys/Girls Squash Championship, organized as part of celebration of the 20th coronation anniversary of the Alake and paramount ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo
The State’s cadet and junior players won three of the four final games played over the weekend at the Alake Squash Court inside, the Ake Palace in Abeokuta.
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Elizabeth Adebayo clinched the under 16 Girl-single’s title after defeating hard- fighting Chioma Ude from Lagos State 3-2 sets
Elizabeth had lost the first set 5/11, before winning the second set 11/7, she lost the third set 6/11 and later came back forcefully to pick the last two sets 11/6,11/6
It was all Ogun State final In the under 16 Boy-singles event which saw Ayomide Omotayo having an easy ride over Peter Adeleke with three straight sets 11/5,11/8,11/7
It was a double tragedy for Lagos State’s Chioma Ude who fell 0-2 to another Ogun State’s player Awawu Balogun who won the U-19 Girls Final decided few hours later
Lagos team however, dominated the keenly contested final in the U- 19 Boy-singles event between Quadri Yusuf who beat team-mate, Joshua Daniel 3-2 sets 8/11,9/11,11/9, 11/2,11/9
The Alake , Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo led top Egba’s Chiefs amongst dignitaries that watched the trilling finals among youngsters who exhibited great skills in squash game
Sponsor of the tournament, Chief Tokunbo Omisore described the competition as his humble contribution to the 20th coronation of Alake and growth of sports in Egbaland, Ogun State and Nigeria at large
He added that the major objective of the championship was to discover and nurture future stars from Egbaland to represent Ogun and the country
Omisore, an Egba chief in an interview with Sports Writers later challenged other chiefs in Egbaland to also use sports and vocational skills acquisition programmes to harness huge potential of youths to enable them contribute positively to the economic growth of the ancient kingdom
Similarly, President of Royalty Club of Egbaland, Tunde Aregbesola explained that the club decided to organize the squash competition to mark the coronation anniversary because of the love of the paramount ruler for the game
The club according to him, has been organizing the competition which has continued to produce great players who have been representing both Ogun and the country for the past one decade
He was full of appreciation for Chief Omisore for bankrolling the competition, assuring that the club would continue to sustain the rich tradition of discovering and nurturing great talents in the game of squash
