N6.5 million up for grabs at Yellow Dots Squash Open championship

A total of N 6.5 million naira will be up for grabs as the maiden edition of the biggest squash tournament in the country; Yellow Dots Squash Championship serves off on March 2, 2024 at the Squash Court of Teslim Balogun Stadium Surulere Lagos.

Disclosing this to the media in a press conference to herald the championship which will be open for both senior and under 16 male and female players, chairman of Yellow Dots Recreation and Sports club, organisers of the tournament, Prince Sola Adekunle explained that the winners of both male and female categories will win N800,000 while the runners-up will go home with N500,000.

Giving a break down of the prizes, he stated that the second and third runners- up will get N250,000 each; quarter finalists will smile home with N120,000 with those that qualified for Round of 16 and 32 getting 40,000 and N25,000 respectively.

Winner of the under 16 boys will pocket N30,000 with the first runners-up getting N20,000 while the third and fourth best players will get N10,000 respectively.

In the girls under 16, the winner will go home with N25,000, the first runners-up gets N15,000 with the third and fourth placed players getting N10,000 each.

The juniors will go home with gifts items such as rackets, bags, shoes etc

According to him, they decided to
offer such huge prize money in order to promote the racket game and make it attractive to many top players from various states of the country.

“This is the first time in the history of squash that such a huge prize money is being offered and because we believe in gender equality, decided that there shall be no disparity between men and women players.

” Our aim is to promote the game and make people see the beauty of the sports. You’re aware that Yellow Dot is a fairly young sports club and that’s why we decided to have the best standard in the championship”, he stated.

Prince Adekunle commended Lagos State Government and management of Teslim Balogun Stadium for their support since the club started using the facility in 2018 just as he called on corporate organisations to support the club in developing the game of squash.

In his remarks, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the tournament, Dr. Femi Bankole explained that the tournament will allow local players gain maximum points to be ranked by the Professional Squash Association ( PSA).
He further stated that the championship will attract the best squash players in the country including the county’s number 1 male and female ranked players; Gabriel Olufumilayo and Rofiat Abdulrazeez.

According to him, qualifiers for the main draws for senior players will commence on Saturday, March 2 while that of U-16 will serve off on Wednesday, March 6. Quarter final matches for both junior and senior comes up in Thursday, followed by the semi-finals on Friday while the grand finale will be on Saturday, March , 9, 2024 even as he assured that the tournament will be an annual event.

Tournament Director, Idowu Emimakure announced that over 160 players from various states of the Federation will be participating in the tournament which will serve as a stepping stone towards ensuring that the country get qualified players that will challenge for a place at the 2028 Olympics when squash will feature in the global sporting event.

YELLOW DOT SQUASH OPEN CASH PRIZE BREAKDOWN

Men
1st: 800,000
2nd: 500,000
3/4: 250,000 = 500,000
Quarter Final: 120,000 = 480,000
Round 16: 40,000 = 320,000
Round 32: 25,000 = 400,000

Total : 3,000,000

Ladies
1st: 800,000
2nd: 500,000
3/4: 250,000 = 500,000
Quarter Final: 120,000 = 480,000
Round 16: 40,000 = 320,000
Round 32: 25,000 = 400,000

Total: 3,000,000

Under 16 Boys
1st: 30,000
2nd: 20,000
3/4: 10,000

Under 16 Girls
1st: 25,000
2nd: 15,000
3/4: 10,000

The juniors will go home with gifts items such as rackets, bags, shoes etc