Yesterday was a great day on the ongoing 56th Molade Okoya-Thomas Nationwide Desk Tennis Championships (also referred to as the Molade OKoya-Thomas Cup) for Paralympic Video games medallists, Isau Ogunkunle and Olufemi Alabi.
The duo on the championships holding on the Molade Okoya-Thomas Corridor of Teslim Balogun Stadium confirmed why they’re extremely rated within the sport with spectacular wins in para desk tennis class.
Ogunkunle, the one African to win a medal within the desk tennis occasion on the Paris 2024 Paralympic Video games, secured a decisive 3-1 victory over fellow Paralympian Bolawa Akingbemisilu, turning into the nationwide champion within the Males’s Singles Class 1-5. Equally, Alabi, a bronze medallist from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Video games, was elegant with an emphatic 3-1 win in opposition to Abiola Adesope, claiming the championship in Class 6-10.
Within the Girls’s Singles Class 6-10, Kehinde Lawal beat Mariam Popoola with a 3-1 victory to safe the highest spot, whereas Kate Oputa from Delta State dominated the Girls’s Singles Class 1-5, beating Kwara’s Taiwo Oyinloye 3-1.
In the meantime, prime seeds, Matthew Kuti and Sukurat Aiyelabegan, have expressed their willpower to make their mark within the competitors. Kuti, a silver medallist on the 2023 African Video games, acknowledged: “I’ve been taking part in nicely within the final two months, profitable the vast majority of the competitions. However I don’t need to be too complacent; I’ll give my greatest to show myself when it issues most. That is the gathering of one of the best gamers within the nation, being the primary nationwide match in 2025.”
Aiyelabegan echoed related sentiments, acknowledging the robust competitors. “Now we have one of the best gamers competing right here, and it’s actually a troublesome match. I’m assured I can increase my recreation to win the title in Lagos,” she added. The quarterfinals of the Males’s and Girls’s Singles will maintain immediately with the ultimate matches scheduled for tomorrow.
