Prime Atlantic squash tournament winners emerge

The finals of the second edition of the Prime Atlantic Squash Tournament saw Onaopemipo Adegoke and Rofiat Abudulazeez winning in the male and female categories, reminding spectators why they are Nigeria’s number one ranked players.

The tournament, which served-off Oct. 31 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, had the players playing the best of five games.

In the women’s final, Abudulazeez defeated Blessing Isaac 11-7 11-8 11-7, an aggregate of 3-0. For her effort, she was rewarded with N150,000 prize.

Abudulazeez said training hard for the tournament gave her the the expected result.

“This tournament wasn’t easy, everyone played at their optimum level. Blessing was great today even though I won,” she said.

In the men’s final, Gabriel Olufunmilayo gave Adegoke a tough start as he led by 1-0 in the first set, then Adogoke stepped up his game winning the second set in the best of five games.

Adegoke, the defending champion, won the last set 7-11, 11-9, 11-3, 1-11, 11-5, an aggregate of 3-0 in 58 minutes, and smiled to the bank with N220,000 prize.

“I can never be tired of winning, it is something I work and train hard for. As long as I put in the work, I deserve to win. Gabriel is tough, definitely not a push over.”

In the junior boys’ category, Shuaib Giwa of Kwara, defeated Ayomide Yusuf 11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 3-0 aggregate in 30 minutes. In the junior female category, Aisha Abuduraheem defeated Zainab Ishola 11-6, 11-1, 11-9, 3-0 aggregate in 19 minutes.

Ayo Otuyalo, the Chief Executive Officer officer of Prime Atlantic, said he was impressed with the level of improvement and skills displayed by the players.

With the N2.6 million prize money, players who played in the round of 32 and 16 went home with prizes unlike before when only the winner and two runners up were rewarded.