Rofiat, Adegoke win at maiden John Hetts tourney

Nigeria’s top-ranked players in the men’s and women’s categories in squash, Onaopemipo Adegoke and Rofiat Abudulazeez emerged winners at the finals of the maiden John Hetts Sports Foundation classics.

The three-day tournament, which was held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, had the players playing the best of five games.
In the male final, Adegoke fought back from two sets down to defeat Gabriel Olufunmilayo in the best of five games.
Due to tiredness, Olufunmilayo could not finish the match as the last set was retired at 77 minutes.

Olufunmilayo got the medical aid needed as Adegoke reaffirmed his supremacy as the number one ranked male player, winning 11-8 11-8 3-11 8-11 11-11.

Speaking after his win, Adegoke revealed that the final was the toughest he ever played admitting that it drained him physically and mentally.
“I lost the first two sets, I had to talk myself back into the game, that took a lot from me mentally and physically. Gabriel is a fantastic player.
“The match could have gone either way, I’m glad I won,” he said.

In the women’s final, Abudulazeez defeated Favour Utukpe 11-4 11-7 9-11 11-2, an aggregate of 3-1.
Abudulazeez, whose birthday was on October 27, described the win as the perfect birthday gift she could ever wish for.
“This tournament wasn’t easy, everyone played at their optimum best.
“But I’m glad I won this final, it a well-deserved birthday gift if I dare say so myself. Favour was great today irrespective of who won,” she said.

Our correspondent learnt that the winners in both female and male categories went home with the same prize money, N400,000, while the second-placed players got N200,000, and N120,000 for the third and fourth-placed winners in both male and female categories.
The players who qualified for the quarter-final stage in both categories get N70,000; Round of 16, N30,000 and Round of 32, N20,000 each.

Sola Adekunle, the Chairman of Yellow Dot Squash Club revealed that he was happy with the turnout of players and squash enthusiasts.
“You can see the smile on my face, this has to be one of the toughest finals. It was so unpredictable, we were all on the edge not knowing who would win.”