The dominance of Fatimo Bello of G20 in the women’s singles came to an end at the Lagos Top Invitational Table Tennis Challenge as Ondo’s Taiwo Mati and Lagos’ Bose Odusanya claimed the titles at the one-day tournament held at Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
Bello, winner of the last national tournaments – 20th National Sports Festival, Aso Cup, and National Championships was dazed in the semifinal of the women’s singles by Kwara’s Bisola Asaju while her arch-rival Lagos’ Odusanya finally cuddled a trophy having lost the last two national tournamentsto Bello in recent times.
National cadet champion Bayelsa’s Samuel Boboye was the surprise star of the tournament as the 15-year-old waltzed his way to the final having taken down some of the top players on his way to the final against African cadet champion Mati.
The men’s singles final had all the elements of a world-class display by the players with Mati playing with a lot of caution against Boboye who had earlier in the day beaten the national U-21 champion in the group stage.
Despite starting well in the final, Boboye could not re-enact his earlier performance against Mati and in less than an hour he bowed the superiority of Mati at 4-2 (13-11, 8-11, 7-11, 11-13, 11-7. 1-11).
In the women’s singles, Odusanya became the champion after beating Asaju 4-2 (11-5, 8-11, 11-4, 3-11, 11-5, 11-6).
An elated Odusanya described the victory as a reward for her hardwork which has always been thwarted by Bello in the last two tournaments, while hoping to remain on top of her game in subsequent tournaments.
