After three days of preliminary matches that began on Tuesday, four players on Thursday emerged for the Semi-Finals in the ongoing Nigeria Top 8 Invitational Tournament holding at the prestigious Ibadan Recreation Club, Oyo State.
The Semi-Finals which holds today at the Squash Section will see Delight Allison take on Busayo Olatunji while Abdulazeez Rofiat takes on Blessing Isaac in the two games that will throw up the finalists.
To reach this stage, Abdulazeez trounced Veronica Sunday 3-0, Mistura Durosinlorun 3-1 and Delight Allison 3-0 while Blessing Isaac on her part defeated Adesola Olatunji 3-1, Delight Allison 3-0 but lost 3-0 to Busayo Olatunji for a place in the Semi-Finals.
On the part of Delight Allison, she defeated Mistura Durosinlorun 3-1, Veronica Sunday 3-2 but lost 3-0 to Abdulazeez Rofiat in the preliminary matches face Busayo Olatunji. Busayo got to this stage via wins against Auta Rebecca 3-1, Adesola Olatunji 3-1 and Blessing Isaac 3-0.
All four players will aim to reach the final for a chance to grab the wild card slot to the Abbas Family Squash Tournament holding in Maryland, USA.
The Nigeria Top 8 Invitational Tournament is sponsored by Solar Power Etal in conjunction with the African Diaspora Squash Association.
An excited Technical Director of the Oyo State Squash Association, Niyi Oyewumi expressed satisfaction with the standards exhibited by the girls noting that Saturday’s final will be full of thrills given the performances of the girls.
“I have followed the tournament closely and must say that I am excited with the display of the girls. Going by the results of the matches in the preliminary stage, it is obvious that there is a strong future ahead for women’s squash in Nigeria. I must commend the efforts of Solar Power Etal CEO Akinlolu Ajayi-Obe for this giant stride and wish to use this medium to call on other well meaning Nigerians to join hands in the development of squash. Keeping players engaged with tournaments like this will help curb lots of youth restiveness and toughen our players for international engagements,” the sponsor of the annual JGM National U16 and U19 Squash Tournament stated.