Just days after losing his national title, Matthew Kuti made a triumphant comeback by reclaiming his crown at the 10th Elicris Table Tennis Cup, held at Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
The two-day tournament featured 64 top players, including 32 women and 32 men, and was organized by the Lagos State Table Tennis Association (LSTTA) with sponsorship from the BAA Foundation and technical support from the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF).
Kuti, who was dethroned by Abdulbasit Abdulfatai at the Daniel Ford tournament over the weekend, showed remarkable resilience by overcoming a 2-0 deficit to defeat Muiz Adegoke 4-2 in the men’s singles final. The match scores were 4-11, 6-11, 13-11, 11-5, 11-5, 12-10.
Kuti expressed his delight, calling the victory a significant return to the top of the national scene.
In the women’s singles, Hope Udoaka from Cross River demonstrated her dominance by defeating Sukurat Aiyelabegan 4-2 in the final.
Despite Aiyelabegan’s strong start with an 11-4 win in the first game, Udoaka’s experience and skill led her to victory with scores of 4-11, 11-4, 14-12, 11-9, 13-15, 11-7.
Tournament sponsor Yomi Adejobi announced plans to expand the competition, aiming to empower young players and nurture emerging talent.
“It’s very fantastic, but I know we can do better. I once played table tennis and it is a game I love to play. I decided to sponsor the tournament because I never had the opportunity like this. In a situation like this, where we are in the position to support the development of the sport by giving back, we choose to go through this route.
“There are a lot of talents and you can see most of them played in the Elicris Cup in the past years, whereby they are now so good looking at their performance today. The performance is high, they can contest at any standard. We should just keep doing what we are doing, put more structures in place, and encourage the players. We opened the tournament to players all over the country this year to celebrate our 10th year. We hope to continue this way and if possible to make it international by inviting people from other countries to join. We will continue with this standard for the next two or three editions to stabilize it well,” Adejobi added.
Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, praised the sponsor’s efforts, aligning them with the state governor’s vision for youth empowerment through sports. He encouraged other individuals to support such initiatives to empower young athletes.
According to the Chairman of LSTTA, Tunji Lawal, the tournament has given players the chance to showcase themselves to national handlers.
“We are giving room to players to exhibit their talents and we have not started, we are about to start. We have a group of young boys and girls who are even ready to give the current crop a run for their positions. Young and fantastic players, we are bringing them on board. Our training program has been set up for the kids and trying to incorporate it into their education and all-encompassing. These kids saw what we’ve done and still doing with them in Lagos, most of them want to play for the state and I want to use this opportunity to appreciate the Governor of Lagos State for his support through the Lagos State Sports Commission. We are taking Lagos State Table Tennis to another level and we will continue to crave support from the government, corporate organizations, and well-meaning individuals,” Lawal said.