20th March, 2012
Adio Ayoka Apatira Memorial Foundation Table Tennis Championship was concluded last weekend at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Hall, Rowe Park, Yaba, Lagos.
At least 20 male and 16 female ping pongers featured in the one-day competition.
In the Men’s Singles final, Shola Oyetayo defeated Ayo Omotara by three sets to one in the best of five games, 11- 7, 11 – 9, 8 – 11, 11 – 9, to win a trophy and the sum of N20,000.
It was an easy ride for Fatimoh Bello of Union Bank Table Tennis Club in the Women’s Singles, as she defeated Funke Hassan of the Nigeria Police Force in a game which ended in three straight sets of 11 – 7, 11 – 8, 14 – 12. She won a trophy and the sum of N20, 000.
Bello, a diploma student of Physical and Health Education from the Lagos State University, LASU, Ojo, said that she was lucky to defeat Hassan because she did not prepare very well for the championship.
The defeat of Hassan was a blessing to her as the Chairman of Itire – Ikate Local Council Development Area, Akeem Adisa Bamgbola, who witnessed the final, promised to provide financial assistance as well as other incentives to help Bello achieve her goal in the game.
The sponsor, Akeem Apatira, who is also the Patron of the Lagos State Table Tennis Association, charged the players to remain focused on their career and shun acts that can tarnish the names of their families.
The association’s chairman, Femi Shokoya, assured that the association would leave nothing to chance to uplift the standard of the sport in the state.
According to Shokoya, the association plans to organise regular competitions ahead of the National Sports Festival slated for November in Lagos.