Bunmi Akpata and Rofiat Abdulazeez last Saturday emerged the men and women’s champions of the 16th Global Cargo Centre Nigeria and Merchant Express closed and club invitational tournament at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja.
Akpata and Abdulazeez defeated their respective opponents Haniel Hadison and Busayo Olatunji 3-1 to claim their titles.
In the veterans final, Eko Club’s Said Khan beat Ikoyi Club’s Olumide Sojirin 3-1 to the title, the same scoreline with which Onaopemipo Adegoke triumphed over Samuel Kehinde in the Professional Squash Association (PSA) men’s final.
The event, which began on 24 August, had 15 clubs, including the 4th Garrison Squash Club from Accra, Ghana, and 53 pros in attendance.
Chairman, Global Cargo Centre Nigeria Limited, Captain Sina Akinfenwa expressed delight at the progress of the championship, which is now one of the top squash events in the country.
Akinfenwa, who is also Chairman of Merchant Express Airlines, said: “I’m a passionate squash player and I’m happy our initial objective has been achieved because we wanted to teach the youths to be interested in squash. Most of the top 10 squash players in Nigeria today are players who started with us when the competition began in 2006″.
On the competitiveness of this year’s edition, he said: “It’s been fantastic; we’ve seen two weeks of uninterrupted squash at the club and the player’s quality has improved. The club organised a clinic for children few weeks ago and I’m happy more and more people are getting interested in the game”.
President, Lagos Country Club, Mr Funmi Bamkole added: “I participated in this event for many years, but I’m glad that as we are retiring, younger players are taking over from where we stopped. As the President of the club, it’s our pleasure to promote social and sporting events; that’s the anchor of our club. I thank Global Cargo Centre in their bid to create a lasting legacy for squash in Nigeria in particular because this event is now a PSA-rated tournament in the world”.
