By: Joy Odor/Kaduna
Kwara State have emerged the overall winner in table tennis in the on-going 3rd edition of the National Youths Games (NYG) holding at the University of Illorin, Kwara state, North-Central, Nigeria, with 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze.
Ondo State emerged runners up with 2 gold, while Imo state came third with 1 gold. Kano, Oyo and FCT got 1 silver and 1 bronze each. Osun, Delta, Kogi and Ogun had 1 silver, 5 bronze , 2 bronze and 1 bronze medals respectively.
In the boys singles final played yesterday, Mati Taiwo (Ondo) picked the gold medal while Habib Olamilekun (Kwara) took the silver leaving the bronze medals for Kareem Ahmed (Delta) and Zakari Idris (Kogi).
In the girl’s finals, Rofiat Jimoh (Kwara) and Ayelabegan Shunkurat (Kwara) took the gold and silver respectively, while Falana Iyanuoluwa (Kwara) and Olawole Habibat (Delta) took the bronze medals.
For the girl’s doubles, Falana Iyanuoluwa/ Ayelabegon Shunkurat (Kwara), Zainab Suma/David Grace (FCT) picked the gold and silver medals respectively while Habibat Olawole /Awo Chijiogo (Delta) and Hakeem Sadiat (Oyo) picked the bronze medals.
In the boy’s doubles, Mati Taiwo /Olorunda Akomolafe (Ondo), Okolanun Usman/Hakeem Moyis (Oyo) picked the gold and silver medals respectively while Umar Ibrahim /Idris Zakari (Kogi), Baje Abdulrasheed /Binuyo John (FCT) picked the bronze medals.
In the para tennis Boys singles, Owocha Amarachi (Imo) and Dauda Shikurat (Kano) picked the gold and silver respectively, while Akankpe Bisoye (Ogun) and Okafor Precious (Delta) went home with the bronze medals.
For the para tennis girls, Igioye Emma (Kwara) and Taiwo Mojid (Ogun) clinched the gold and silver medals respectively, while Obadele Ayobami (Delta) and Jimoh Lateef(Kano) picked the bronze medals.
Speaking on the performance, Coach Kehinde Aiyelabegan of the overall winner – Kwara state, attributed their winning to the help of God, their Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and a NTTF board member from the state Shola Owolabi who has always supported them and above all the commitment and dedication of the players.
He disclosed that Kwara state has dominated the boys and girls table tennis in the country for the past three years.
