The UI team, including two UIMSAites: Oguntona Abraham and Okojie Simeon, has made a sweep of 12 medals (2 Gold, 4 Silver and 6 Bronze) across three of the four sports they competed in, at the eleventh biennial All-Africa University (FASU) Games co-hosted by the University of Lagos and Lagos State University between 20th – 29th of September, 2024.
Oguntona Abraham, the UI Chess Captain, won two bronzes, both coming from Chess, while Okojie Simeon, the UCH Chess Captain, also came away from the event with two bronzes won in Chess and Scrabble.
The first gold medal for Team UI came from Adetunji Sunday, a 500 Level Law Student, in Taekwondo, with the second coming from Ojo Blessing, a 500 Level Dentistry Student in the Female Blitz Category of Chess. The four silvers came from the Male Scrabble Doubles and Female Classical Chess, with 3 individual silvers from each of the representatives, Adegbola Oluwatomisin, Ojo Blessing and Onyetube Laura at their respective boards. The 6 bronze medals were recorded in the male and female scrabble team events, as well as three individual bronzes each from Enyi Emmanuel and Kelani Funmilola in Scrabble, and Oguntona Abraham on Board One in the Open Classical Chess event. The final bronze was recorded by the UI Chess Team cumulatively, placing 3rd behind the star-studded UNILAG team and a dominant University of Zambia lineup.
Speaking with the Press after the event, Okojie said, “Personally, it was a great experience. I feel I’ve learned a lot, and I value that even more than the medal. Leveraging exposure to top-level competition is a big deal for me, and I hope to still improve. NUGA will hold next year in Jos; I’ve got my sights set on that.”
Moshood Sidiq