By Daily Sports Nigeria on December 18, 2023

Men and women’s singles champions Muiz Adegoke and Bose Odusanya will on Monday (today) begin their title defences at the 55th Molade Okoya-Thomas Table Tennis Cup at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

Adegoke, who dethroned David Fayele in 2022, is hoping to retain the title, having missed his first attempt at the title in 2021. The national youth champion has vowed to repeat his 2022 feat, when he edged former champions Rilwan Akanbi and Fayele in the semi-finals and finals respectively to claim his first senior title at Nigeria’s oldest sports competition.

“I want to equal the record set by some of the former champions of the competition. By now I should be thinking of my third title because I missed the final in 2021 due to my examination in school. I hope I can repeat what I did last year again,” Adegoke said.

Odusanya, who has been winning the women’s singles title since 2015, vowed to continue her dominance this year.

“I don’t think I am ready to relinquish the title this year because none of the players can match me in the final. But I would not underrate any player this year because everybody is eyeing the trophy, but nothing can separate me from the title this year,” she said.

The Molade Okoya-Thomas Cup, originally known as the Asoju Oba Cup, has produced some of the finest table tennis players in Africa.

Deji Okoya-Thomas said this year’s milestone edition would be marked on a low-key basis.

“We are committed to staging the tournament annually, which is in line with the ideals of the founder, and we hope that more players would surely come through the tournament to become world beaters like Atanda Musa and Olufunke Oshonaike.”

Source Punch Ng

Posted December 18, 2023

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