Kunle Adelabu
-Abraham Abayomi emerges winner in Monopoly game
-Tournaments meant to collect data, get talents for the National Youth Games trial – Association
Chairman
The emerging Scrabble prodigy and sensation, Master Michael Ogbonna, a student of the Ikorodu Senior Grammar School who came third in the State Scrabble competition held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium last week, has won the Ikorodu Division phase of the tournament.
He confirmed his dominance of the game in the division on Thursday (yesterday) at the U -15 Scrabble and Monopoly Tournament for students in Ikorodu Division, held at the Asiwaju Olorunfunmi Hall, Oreyo Community Grammar School, Igbogbo.
The duo of Philips Olakitan, a student of Kingsfields School, Ijede, and Ogunlaja, a student of Oreyo Community Grammar School, Igbogbo, emerged first and second runners-up respectively.
Also, in the category of those above the age of 15 that were accommodated in the competition, Ibrahim Faidat of the Oreyo Community Grammar School, Igbogbo, emerged winner while Kootie Emmanuella from the Kingsfields College, Ijede, and Adebanjo Adebola from Ayotunde Private School, came second and third respectively.
For the Under – 15 Monopoly where fewer entries were recorded, Abraham Ayomiposi of the Kingsfield School, Ijede, won the tournament.
Meanwhile, Engr Monsuru Oladipupo Akanbi, Chairman of Lagos State Scrabble and Monopoly Association who was on ground to supervise the tournament, said that the association is bringing age group championship to the grassroots to detect and nurture talents in primary and secondary schools, an effort he said is central to the agenda of the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo – Olu.
“What we are doing is in line with the Lagos State Government’s goal which is to discover talents at the grassroots and nurture them into players of international repute”, he said.
“Teslim Balogun Stadium was the starting point for what we called School Scrabble.
He said that talented players detected at the competitions held at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, and in Ikorodu as well as in other divisions where the tournament is still going, will be invited to the camp for the upcoming National Game trial.
Engr. Akanbi also added that the association is also using the tournaments to garner data on students playing scrabble and monopoly in the state for proper planning.
“The reason for the U -15 competition is that we have a forthcoming National Youth Games and the mandate is to detect U -15 Scrabble players for the games. Also, what we are doing aligns with the agenda of the state government and we are also using it to engage students that are also 15 and above separately”, he said.
“Bringing sports back to the grassroots is Mr Governor’s goal for development in the state. The theme of the Lagos State Sports Commission is sports development from the grassroots. What you will see sports associations do now is to go to the grassroots to discover talents.
“It is part of the Mr Governor’s mission, tagged, “THEMES” agenda. This is what is called grassroots development because we have the bulk of our talents st the grassroots”, Engr. Akanbi added.
“What the tournaments at the Teslim Balogun Stadium and across the divisions will amount to is that it will allow us to do data collection and management”, he revealed.
“We now have data on all of the players that are now participating in our tournaments. The general belief is that those that are participating in U – 15 are in school.
“We are getting data on the schools, name of students, their ages and other details.
“With this, we have been able to get a good number of players from the tournaments who we are going to be invited to participate in the qualifiers for the National Youth Games”, he said.
Also in attendance at the U-15 Scrabble tournament in Igbogbo were Mr Ademola Ogunlewe, member of the association from Ikorodu Division, Lagos State Scrabble Coach and other officials.
