Olufumilayo, Olatunji win Yellow Dots Squash Open championship
Nigeria’s male and female number one squash players, Gabriel Olufumilayo and Bisayo Olatunji proved book makers right when they won the maiden Yellow Dots Squash Open championship.
In the finals of the biggest squash tournament in the country which was held Saturday at the Squash Court of Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere Lagos, Gabriel Olufumilayo defeated Samuel Kehinde by 3-1 of 11/5, 11/9, 10/12 and 11/4 to be crowned champion of the week long tournament.
Playing in the finals of the female category, Bisayo Olatunji defeated Rofiat Abdulrazeez by 8/11, 14/12, 11/7, 11/8 and 4/11 to emerge victorious.
Also in the final of the U-16 boys category, no 1 seed, Mathew Yusuf of Lagos State defeated Shuaibu Giwa of Kwara State by 3-0 of 12/10, 11/2 and 11/8 to be crowned champion while in the female category, Aisat Abdulraheem of Kwara state recorded a 3-1 victory of 6/11, 11/8, 11/2 and 12/10 over Zainab Ishola of Lagos State to emerge winner.
Speaking after the energy sapping finals, both Olufumilayo and Bisayo commended the organisers of the championship which they hope will not only help in improving their games but be useful in their rankings by Professional Squash Association ( PSA).
Both players while giving kudos to their opponents for giving them a run for their money appealed for more of such tournaments which will go a long way in improving the racket game as well as discovering talented players.
Gabriel commended the Director General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps ( NSCDC) for approving his release for the tournament and his coaches for the great job they’re doing to ensure he’s on top of his game at all times.
” I want to specially thank the organisers for putting this tournament together and the Controller General of NSCDC for releasing me and my coaches for the great job they’re doing to ensure I’m on top of my game”.
” I also want to thank my father in Squash, who incidentally is the Chairman of Yellow Dots Recreation and Sports club, organisers of the tournament, Prince Sola Adekunle for all his support and with this victory, I will continue to improve on my game”,
” This tournament is a six day event and will really improve my career and ranking at the world level with 65 points and hopefully, by April, I will be embarking on a training tour of Egypt and also play some tournaments there aimed at improving my career”, he stressed.
An excited Bisayo on her part, said she overcame nervousness in the first set to come back strongly from the second set to win the championship noted that the tournament has prepared her for an upcoming competition slated for March, 20 in Canada which she will be participating in.
“In the first set, I was a bit nervous and my coach advised me to calm down which I did and that did the magic for me. I believe that this tournament has really prepared me for an upcoming event in Canada on March,20. I will be traveling for the championship on March, 16 and I promise to give my best there”, she stated with confidence.
In his remarks, Chairman of Yellow Dots Recreation and Sports club, organisers of the tournament, Prince Sola Adekunle commended the players for giving a good account of themselves even as he advised people to take to the game of squash to keep fit and maintain healthy living.
He promised that the club will continue to sponsor the championship and make it bigger next year.
Also speaking, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the tournament, Dr. Femi Bankole while commending their sponsors for identifying with the competition, appealed for more government and corporate sponsorship for squash especially now that the game will be featuring at the 2028 Olympics.
A total prize money of N 6.5 million was won by various categories of players with the winners of the men and women categories going home with N800,000 each while their runners- up won N500,000 just as junior players went home with gifts items such as rackets, bags, shoes on etc
