The O’Traffford Squash Club, will this weekend honour one of its own, Dr. Okechukwu John Mbonu, as he celebrates his 70th birthday.
Expectedly, top squash clubs in Lagos will compete in the OJ Mbonu Special Birthday Squash Tournament set to run for two days between Friday, October 14 through Saturday, October 15, 2022 at the luxurious squash courts of O’Trafford Squash Club situated at the Officers Mess, 81 Division, Nigerian Army in Marina, Lagos.
According to the organisers, the tournament is being specially dedicated to Dr. Mbonu for his years of meritorious service to the club as a founding member, as well as for his “invaluable contributions” to the development of the sport in the country.
Three invited clubs – Squash Section, Ikoyi Club 1938, Squash Section, Lagos Country Club and the Yellow Dots Squash Club will join the host team, O’Trafford Squash Club in competing for prizes in the Men’s, Veterans’ and the Super Veterans’ categories during the 2-day event.
The highlight of the event will, of course, be a special focus on the super veterans’ match-ups in obvious deference to the celebrant, and guest of honour.
The OTrafford Squash Club has continued to gain in stature since it’s founding through the ingenuity and accommodation of Obong Larry Ephraim Ettah, then GMD/CEO, UACN Plc. What began as a very informal gathering of squash-playing friends and acquaintances has today become a veritable force in recreational squashing in Nigeria today.
The club, which will soon mark its 10th anniversary, has regularly made its impact felt in the Nigerian Squash environment. Apart from regular sponsorship interventions in the programmes of the Nigerian Squash Federation, the club has also socially impacted on its immediate environment. And only few months ago, it inaugurated the “Champions’ Challenge”, a super platform for eight highest ranked Nigerian players on the Professional Squash Association global grading system.
The maiden edition which held in June this year, had four players in each group and saw the PSA second ranked player and Nigeria’s number one, Onaopemipo Adegoke, defeating the country’s highest ranked PSA player, US-based Tunde Ajagbe in the semifinals. Adegoke would later win the Tournament to the admiration of all.
It was all nostalgia when one-time home lad, Babatunde Ajagbe flew in from the United States of America to compete in the last ‘Champions Challenge’ also staged by the O’Trafford Squash Club in June this year.
Personalities like former UACN Plc supremo, Larry Ettah, founder and first chairman and a host of others have, at one time or the other, been given a taste of OTrafford’s hospitality treatment!
Current chairman, Taye Ige who, two years ago succeeded immediate past chairman, Aderemi Adeseun, has in the last few months been in the vanguard of initiatives geared toward making the game of squash even more vibrant with an eye on more sponsorships and competitions that will help the rankings of the athletes who participate in the sport.
Even though this weekend’s competition is purely recreational, it will however not lack the essential elements of competitiveness and awareness it desperately needs at this time.
And celebrating a super veteran like Dr. Mbonu, a corporate czar of no mean standing whose glorious career traversed the Nigerian Breweries, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and UACN Plc in over four decades of dedicated service on a day the world will also be celebrating the World Squash Day is no doubt a veritable epoch that not only deserves the red carpet, but pints and pints of beer — as a worthy toast to an engineer who made and sold beer for many years.
Heineken, easily Nigeria’s premium beer, is sponsoring the event.