Femi Solaja
With just three days to the 52nd annual Asoju Oba Table Tennis Cup, five-time women singles champion, Bose Odusanya, is upbeat about possibility of winning her sixth tittle when the event gets underway at the Molade Okoya –Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
The annual event will start on November 30th till December 1stand all the players in the senior category are looking forward to the tournament after several months of lockdown since March.
Odusanya who has been unbeaten in the last five editions of the tournament however hailed the family of the late Molade Okoya-Thomas for agreeing to stage the event this year amid Covid-19 pandemic.
“I am really looking forward to claiming the sixth title this year because I am in good shape for the tournament. I must also commend the family of Chief Okoya-Thomas for deciding to organize the championship this year because we had thought it would not hold again.
“For us in Lagos, the tournament is an annual event we are sure of competing in and that we are playing two events this year, I think we must be grateful to the family,” she said.
Odusanya who will be leading the Lagos State women’s table tennis team to the National Sports Festival in Benin City, believes the tournament would also afford them the opportunity to test their strength against some of the best players in the state.
Like Odusanya, men’s singles defending champion David Fayele is not ready to surrender the title this year having won the last two editions in 2018 and 2019 is sure of retaining the title. “I don’t see anyone stopping me again this year because I dominated the recent tournament organized for the return of sports in Lagos State and for me, I am fully ready to shield others from cuddling the trophy this year,” Fayele said.
The southpaw lauded the organisers for keeping faith with the tournament despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
The annual Asoju Oba Molade Okoya-Thomas is Nigeria’s oldest sporting event as the tournament has been staged annually uninterrupted since inception in 1968.
