Squash
By Babatunde Ogunrinde
Oluwaseun Peters, tournament director, IGP Open Contenders Invitational Classics, on Tuesday said that the event was put together to help players prepare ahead of the coming National Sports Festival.
Peters told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the three days competition served off on May 13 and will draw curtains on May 15 with no fewer than 28 players competing for honours.
“This is a well timed event where the players would seize the opportunity to fine tune their preparations ahead of the 22nd National Sports Festival to hold in Ogun.
“So far so good we have seen classic competitive matchups amongst players and they are not relenting on their efforts to showcase their qualities.
“The matches so far have been very entertaining and thrilling moments and high tempo games recorded so far.
“It has also served well for young players to seize the moment to also prove their qualities while the professionals have done well to consolidate their superiority
“We are proud of what we have seen so far and we just look forward to another wonderful.moment in squash competition,”Peters said.
Similarly, C.S.P Charity Enebeli, the Police Sports Chairman said that she was happy with the level of competition so far in the competition.
“We have put the tournament together because we want to contribute to the development of squash among our youths.
“We look forward to an exciting tournament where every player give their best to a give something at the end,”Enebeli said.
Another squash enthusiast present at the event was Shola Adekunle, the Chairman Yellow Dot Squash Clubs said that he was happy to be in the event and give kudos to the players.
“In the first day of action, I have seen a great deal of squash professionalism and a lot of energy form the players.
“Indeed it has been a very competitive show and I’m looking forward to more games and basically enjoy myself.
“I want to thank the Nigeria Police for organising the tournament indeed it is a notable objective that goes a long way to help the players,”Adekunle said.
Some of the players also said that the competition is coming at a good time for them as they plan to go all the way to win their games and prepare me tally for the Festivals.
Abdulrahman Ahmed ranked number 13 told NAN that he is looking forward to a great you ent where he perfect his strategy and win the men’s singles.
“I want to win the men singles so as to take that winning mentality to the festivals,”Ahmed said.
Similarly, Jadesola Olatunji said that she is excited to be in the competition and looking forward to doing well and reaching the women’s singles final.
“I have seen a lot of tough opposition, but I am not disturbed about that, I am just focused on my games and looking forward to doing well at the end,”Olatunji said.
Meanwhile in some of the games played in day one action, Asade Samson beat Samuel Nduka-Uba, 11-7, 10-12, and 11-7(2-1) to.pick his first win of the day.
Usman Musa edge pass Balogun Abubakar, 10-12, 11-7 and 11-8(2-1) to book is first win in the competition while Dele Prat beat Farooq Suleiman, 11-6, 13-11(2-0).
Dominion Utake held his ground against Yusuf Quadri recording a 11-6, 11-9 and 5-11(2-1) victory, as Lanre Abdulrahman saw off Ayomide Oladipo(2-0).
Ayomide Oladipupo wallop Usman Musa, 11-0, 11-0(2-0) said it’s a good win in his game.
