Two-time men’s singles champion, Rilwan Akanbi, has boasted of his intention to retain the title as the 54the Molade Okoya-Thomas Table Tennis Championships kick off today at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
Akanbi who guided Lagos to third place finish in the men’s team event at the last National Sports Festival in Delta said nothing can stop him from holding on to the laurel he had won in 2016 and 2021.
“The Molade Okoya-Thomas Cup brought me to limelight and I think the tournament has also enchanted my chances of making the national team. To ensure I remain relevant I must do everything possible to retain my title this year. In this tournament you don’t look down on any player because everyone is capable of beating any top player so I think the pressure will be on me and I am ready to withstand it and make it the third title this year,” Akanbi said.
The former West Africa champion said winning the tournament this year would surely put him in vantage position to be included in the national team for the African Games in Ghana next year. “I want to play at the next African Games and I need this title to show that I am capable of being part of the team because past champions of this tournament have moved on into the national team,” he added.
The annual Asoju Oba Table Tennis Cup has been rechristened Molade Okoya-Thomas Table Tennis Championship from this year being the longest sports tournament in Africa.
According to Deji Okoya-Thomas said the decision to rename the tournament after the initiator was based on family decision.
“The family decided to name the tournament after the initiator of the tournament because the former name was a title given to him while he was alive and since his demise, the title has been given to someone else, so it is pertinent that the family use his name for the tournament which has remained the longest sports competition in Nigeria,” he said.
Listing some of the players that had come through the tournament, Okoya-Thomas said: “We cannot but acknowledge the impact the tournament has had on the fortune of the sport in the country. Some of its products have become global stars.
An obvious example is Olajide Omotayo who has become an integral part of the national team and 2019 African Games champion.
“Of recent is the exploits of teenage sensation Matthew Kuti who was impressive in his maiden outing at the African Youth Championship in Tunisia while his performance at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Contender in Cairo, Egypt where he claimed the U-11 and U-13 titles are confirmation of the impact the tournament has had on the players.”
The tournament is organised by Lagos State Table Tennis Association with support from the Lagos State Sports Commission and it ends on Friday December 30 with finals in the men and women singles at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
