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Rilwan Akanbi of Atinuke Table Tennis Club conquered some of the best players in the country to emerge men’s singles champion at the 2021 Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) National Championships just as G20’s Fatimo Bello continued her dominance in the women’s singles in the country.
Akanbi, whose inconsistency has dropped his national rating worked his way to the top of the men’s singles after edging out title contenders like Amadi Omeh and Azeez Solanke before finally ending the unbeaten run of Taiwo Mati in the final to emerge as the new national champion.
The former Asoju Oba champion was never considered a title contender having performed poorly at the 20th National Sports Festival in Edo as well at the Aso Cup in Abuja but at the weekend, he put up a good performance to lift the coveted trophy alongside the N250, 000 star prize in the men’s singles.
Akanbi had to rally from 2-0 down to beat Ondo’s Mati 4-3 (7-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9) to the admiration of the fans at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
In the women’s singles, Bello who has been champions in the last two tournaments continued her reign as the best female player in the country with a convincing 4-1 (15-13, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 11-1) win over Bose Odusanya in the women’s singles final.
Ondo and G20 won the highest number of medals in the 12 events competed for at the five-day championships with 18 states and 18 clubs made up of 300 players participating in the tournament.
