The curtains were drawn on the 3rd Mutual Benefits National Badminton Championship at the Mutual Benefit / Police College Badminton Complex in the Police College, Ikeja, Lagos on Saturday, 12th October,20¹9.
The first Finals, the Women’s Doubles event, produced a brand new set of winners; Kwara state’s combination of Zainab Damilola Alabi and Sofiyat Arinola Obanishola.
They outclassed Ogun state’s pair of Nigeria and Africa’s Number One Women’s Singles player, Dorcas Ajoke Adesokan and her partner, Asisat Ogunkanbi to take home the gold medal of the event.
The Mixed Doubles event further confirmed the ratings of the current Nigeria Number One ranked pair of Eneojo Joseph Abah and his lovely wife, Peace where they pipped FCT’s pair of Yunusa Momoh and Ramatu Yakubu 2-0 to add to their collection of Mixed Doubles gold medals.
The Men’s Singles event brought about the reversal of the 2nd Edition’s outcome, where Nigeria and Africa’s Number One MS player, Anuoluwapo Opeyori defeated his fiercest rival, fellow Lagos state player, Nigeria’s Number two & Africa’s Number three player, Godwin Olufua.
The Men’s Doubles Finals saw Nigeria’s and Africa’s Number One Men’s pair of, Anuoluwapo Opeyori and Godwin Olofua of Lagos State win 2-1 over Eneojo Joseph Abah (Rivers) and Isaac Murphy Minaphee (Taraba) to retain the gold won last year in the category.
In the Women’s Singles event, the reigning Queen of African Badminton, Nigeria’s and Africa’s Number One, Dorcas Ajoke Adesokan of Ogun state despatched Ruth Chinenye Ibere of Katsina state to retain the gold medal she has won from the inception of the tournament.
In his speech at the end id the tournment, the Chairman of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, the sponsors of the event, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi congratulated all the athletes in attendance, and the Board of the BFN under the able leadership of Francis Orbih, Esq., for it’s “hard work, resilience and consistency.”
Delivering his speech, the President of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, the indefatigable and tireless Francis Orbih, Esq., expressed his board’s gratitude and appreciation to the sponsors of the event, especially the Chairman of the Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc for keeping to their word of making the event an annual one.
Awards of recognition and appreciation were given out.
