Adegoke, Odusanya begin Okoya-Thomas Cup title defence
Men’s and women’s singles defending champions, Muiz Adegoke and Bose Odusanya will today at the 55th Molade Okoya-Thomas Table Tennis Cup taking place at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
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Adegoke, who dethroned David Fayele in 2022, is hoping to retain the title having missed his first attempt at the title in 2021. The national youth champion missed the 2021 final due to his academics commitment and he has vowed to repeat his 2022 feat where he edged out former champion, Rilwan Akanbi and Fayele in the semi-final and finals to claim his first senior title at the Nigeria’s oldest sports competition.
The tournament’s record holder Odusanya will be aiming to erase her own record with her unbeaten record in the competition. “I want to equal the record set by some of the former champions of the competition. By now I should be thinking of my third title because I missed the final in 2021 due to my examination in school. I hope I can repeat what I did last year again,” he boasted.
Odusanya who has been winning the women’s singles title since 2015 has been dominating the event as she has promised to continue her dominance again this year. “I don’t think I am ready to relinquish the title this year because none of the players can match me in the final. But I would not underrate any player this year because everybody is eyeing the trophy and nothing can separate from the title this year,” she said.
The Molade Okoya-Thomas Cup originally known as Asoju Oba Cup has produced some of the finest table tennis players in Africa and the Lagos State Table Tennis Association (LSTTA) has said that senior and junior events would be competed this year.
For Deji Okoya-Thomas this year’s milestone edition would be marked on a low-key basis while the family has also reaffirmed their commitment to the annual staging of the championships. “We are committed to staging the tournament annually which is in line with the ideal of the founder and we hope that more players would surely come through the tournament to become world beaters like Atanda Musa and Olufunke Oshonaike.
