Boboye, Solanke win men’s team event at ITTF Africa Western Region Championship

Nigeria’s duo of Samuel Boboye and Azeez Solanke claimed the gold medal in the men’s team event as Nigeria continued to dominate proceedings at the ITTF Africa Western Region Championship in Lagos.

Boboye and Solanke defeated their compatriots Akanbi Rilwan and Augustine Emmanuel in an all-Nigerian final of the men’s team event at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Indoor Sports Hall in the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos. Boboye and Solanke won the match 3-2 against their countrymen to pick up the gold medal.

In the women’s team event, the duo of Fatimo Bello and Ronke Odusanya followed the footsteps of Boboye and Solanke as they claimed the gold medal to ensure a clean sweep for Team Nigeria in the men’s and women’s team events, adding the two gold medals to the mixed doubles gold medal won by Bello and Solanke earlier in the tournament.

In the men’s singles event, however, Nigeria’s poster boy Samuel Boboye lost to a more experienced opponent at the quarterfinal stage of the competition. After knocking out Ivorian defending champion Oba Oba Kizito in the second round, Boboye was a favourite to go all the way, but the teenager was stopped in his tracks by Ghana’s Emmanuel Commey.

Boboye started his quarterfinal match against Commey very well and raced to a 2-0 lead against the Ghanaian, who then fought back with all of his experience and intelligence to pick up a 4-3 win over Boboye at the end of the match, knocking the 17-year-old out of the event.

In the women’s singles event at the ITTF Africa Western Region Championship, the Nigerian quartet of Fatimo Bello, Esther Oribamise, Aminat Fashola, and Abosede Odusanya have all qualified for the semifinals, ensuring that a Nigerian would emerge with the gold medal in the event.

The four-day ITTF Africa Western Region Championship is expected to come to a conclusion on November 4th, with all the remaining events set to be concluded.