Winners emerge in Alake Of Egbaland squash competition

Winners have emerged at the maiden edition of the Alake of Egbaland National Junior Under 15 and 18 Open Squash championship held in Abeokuta, Ogun State at the weekend.

The tournament was organized by the Ake Royalty Boys and Ajisewa Egba Foundation, ARB and it involved 40 young squash players drawn from three states-Lagos, Ogun and Kwara, to compete for honours at the event.

The grand finale of the competition was held at the Alake of Egbaland Palace in Abeokuta on Saturday to commemorate the 10th Coronation Anniversary of Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, Okukenu IV, Alake of Egbaland.

In the Under 18 Boys category, Abel Shedrack emerged winner and went home with a cash prize of N20,000, while Michael John, who was runner up was awarded N15,000 and the joint third position, Desmond Iguodala and Onaopemimo Adegoke got N10,000 each.

In the under-18 Girls category, Rofiat Abdulazeez came first; Faidat Soliu, second and Busayo Olatunji and Ibukun Ajani emerged joint third. The girls category got the same prizes as their male counterpart.

In under-15 Boys category, Durosiniolorun Uthman came first and got a cash prize of N15,000 while Clinton Iguodala came second and got N10,000. Raymond Iguodala and Abdulrahaman Nasir emerged joint third position and got N7, 500 each.

Chairman, ARB, Bayo Sodade said the aim of the competition was raise young talents in the game of squash to represent the nation in the future and also to honour the Alake for his love for the game of squash.

“The objective of the Tournament is to promote youth development of squash racket nationwide and have some of the youths in the top ten of Professional Squash Association (PSA) in future,” he said.

According to him, ARB had been mentoring young talents in Abeokuta for the past eight years by sponsoring a monthly squash clinic in Ake palace since the Palace Squash Complex was commissioned in 2007.

He said Squash had been neglected in the country because of the emphasis on football, but noted that there is hope for the game as the nation had decided that Squash would be one of the sports the country would participate in the forthcoming Olympic.

Eminent personalities at the event are former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Chief Alani Bankole, father of the former Speaker, House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, Okukenu IV, Alake of Egbaland.