Gateway Games: Team Ogun sweeps gold in doubles’ masters, female, opens

Team Ogun on Monday dominated the Scrabble Doubles Event at the 22nd National Sports Festival as they snatched gold medals in the Masters, Female and Opens categories while Team FCT earned top medal in the Intermediate class after 15 rounds.

The potent pair of current African champion Oluwatimilehin Doko and Abdulmumin Jimoh who represented the ‘Gateway State’ in the Masters, sealed their place at the top of the log in Round 14 after recording 10½ wins with a 909 cumulative spread.

Their closest rivals, Team Lagos and Team Edo who scored 9 wins each could do little or nothing to alter their firm grip at the top even with a round to go.

After the final round, the duo confirmed their gold status while Team Lagos’ through Enoch Nwali and John Ayedun got silver with 10 wins while Edo State pair of George Ezinore and Godwin Victor won bronze.

In the women category, Team Ogun would Gibsonised’ (guaranteed a victory especially with two games ahead) it’s second gold medal in the sports as Adebisi Adekansi and Bukunmi Afolayan pulled their weight in Round 14 to land the gold medal in the Female category.

Both experienced jammers recorded a total of 13 wins and 1984 cumulative points ahead of Team Lagos’ Priscilla Akhabue and Sophia Ekeruche who got silver medal with 11 win and 1395 spread while  Joy Nwabuzor and Egbe Ekun picked the bronze medal.

In a similar situation, the State also grabbed a gold medal in the Opens category through Emmanuel Ogiogio and David Idris to make it a “hat-trick” on the day.

Both players stamped the state’s seal on the medal with a round to go as they recorded 11 wins and 3 defeats.

 They would conclude the race with 12 wins to keep their nearest opponents Peter Awonusi and Onu Benjamin of Oyo State in second position (10-5) and Abia State’s Charles Princewill Uchenna Opara (10-5) to a bronze medal.

In the Intermediate Category, Team FCT reigned as Oguntade Oluwasogo and Friday Ogbonyomo prevented an Ogun State clean sweep as they grabbed the gold medal with 11 wins and 4 defeats with a spread of 920 ahead of Team Lagos duo of Olatunde Adigun and Sunday Ituah who got silver after they record 10 wins.

Team Akwa Ibom picked the bronze medal through Prestige Archibong and Akamabong recorded who scored 10 win and a spread of 354 points.

The Team Ogun Tunde Saporu and David Ojih missed out on a podium as they came fourth on the log.

The scramble for medals continues as the Team Event takes centre stage on Monday ahead of the final day on Tuesday.

Scrabble Medals Table (as at Monday 26th May)

Teams       Gold     Silver       Bronze

Ogun             3           1               1

FCT               2           –                1

Bayelsa          2            –                –

Delta               1          1               –

Lagos              –             3              –

Edo                 –             2               2

Oyo                 –             1               –

Rivers              –             –                 1

Akwa Ibom     –             –                 1

Abia                –             –                 1

Osun               –             –                  1