World No.185, Adegoke Onaopemipo; and the reigning ‘most outstanding athlete from Kwara state’, Rofiat AbdulAzeez; won the top prizes at the maiden edition of the John Hett Sports Foundation squash championship.
TOP MEDIA reports that Adegoke defeated Gabriel Olufunmilayo to clinch the trophy and N400,000 cash prize, while Abudulazeez beat Favour Utukpe in the women’s category, winning the same amount.
The finals were played at the squash section of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere on Saturday, October 28, 2023.
1st JHSF Squash Tournament Finals Results
Rofiat Abdulazeez (Kwara)
bt
Favour Utukpe (Lagos) 3-1
11/4,11/7,9/11,11/2
33 minutes
Onaopemipo Adegoke(Delta state)
bt
Gabriel Olufunmilayo (NSCDC) 3-2
8/11,8/11,11/3,11/8,11/11RTD
71 minutes
Adegoke, popularly called ‘Onas’, who recently won his first Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournament, said training hard and having played in highly competitive tournaments in 2023 helped him.
His words:
“I train very hard and the result is evident. I hope to maintain this level of discipline and play as many tournaments as possible. After each tournament either I win or lose, I go back to see what I did wrong and what I can improve on.”
Following the successful staging of the tournament, the Chairman of Yellow Dot Squash Association, Sola Adekunle, said it is clear that Nigeria has players of world standards.
Meanwhile, Wasiu Bello, president of the Professional Squash Players Association of Nigeria (PSPAN), who also doubles as the Technical Director of the John Hett Squash tournament, expressed gratitude to the nation’s squash fraternity.
He said:
“We’re grateful to all our sponsors and stakeholders for relentlessly promoting squash.”
