Odunlade wins 1st Chairman Cup

The event which took place at the multi purpose sports hall of the Rowe Park Sports Center, Lagos saw Odunlade from the Union Bank Table Tennis club shoving aside Gbenga Anthony also from Union Bank Table Tennis club early lead to emerged winner with a 4-3 sets of (5-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-13, 11-7, 11-6 and 12-10) to delight of the crowd including Lagos State Commissioner for Youth & Sports, Opeyemi Bamidele and his wife.

Second place finisher Anthony, however, got N14, 000 for putting up a briliant performance in the championship.

Odunlade who went home with a trophy and a cash price of N21, 000 had earlier in the day defeated Lanre Jegede in the second semi-finals by 3-2 sets (10-12, 11-8, 11-5, 10-12 and 11-7) to set up a final duel against the more composed Anthony who defeated Kazeem Monsuru in the first semi-finals by 3-1 sets (11-3, 11-6, 9-11 and 11-9).

In the ladies category Ganiat Ogundele avenged her younger sister semi-final lose to Fatimoh Bisiriyu by 3-1 sets (11-13, 11-7, 11-9 and 11-8) to go smile home with the prize money of N18, 000 while Bisiriyu got N12, 000 for her efforts.

The male semi-finalists (Kazeem Monsuru and Lanre Jegede) were rewarded with the sum of N6, 000 each for their effort while the female semi-finalists (Kehinde Borokiri and Rashidat Ogundele) got N5, 000 each, all the male quarter-finalists went home with the sum N2, 000 each and the ladies quarter-finalists got N1, 500, as other participants had their transport fare augmented by the association.

Association chairman and sponsor of the one-day championship, Wahid Enitan Oshodi promised that next edition billed for September this year will be more glamorous in term of prizes and participations, in all 52 male and 22 female took part in the championship.

The legal luminary turned sports administrator pledged that his association will return the sports to its glorious days and added that Lagos State will top the table tennis medal chart at Gateway 2006 14th National Sports Festival holding in Ogun State.