Leshi Adebayo
It was a victorious day for Team Ojo division of Lagos State University, LASU as they won the final football competition against Team LASUCOM by a lone goal at the LASU Sports Centre on Thursday 17, March, 2022. The competition was played by the Three LASU divisions; Ọjọ, Badagry and LASUCOM Ikeja – while Team Epe was absent.
Among other sports competition packaged in the Day 2 programme of the Convocation Sport Competition for staff, Team LASU took 1st place in all– 100 metres race, Relay race (both male and female) leaving the crumbs for Badagry and LASUCOM to share.
For the football competition, having won the qualifying match against Team Epe division by 2 goals to nil, Team Ojo secured a spot in the finals against Team Badagry who had an automatic final ticket as Team Epe could not make it to the competition due to unforseen circumstances. This is the first time in 6 years that Team Epe would not be partaking in any LASU sports division competition.
In the qualifying match, Team Ojo showed class throughout the whole 50 minutes as Team Badagry could not take advantage of few of the chances they made in the game. The 1st half of the match did not produce any goal until the second half when Mr Samuel Edogo of LASU FM got the first goal for Team Ojo, after came the winning goal, a lob kick by Mr Rahman from the Security unit, shot the home team to the finals.
The final football competition, with other sports occured later in the afternoon, around past 3, as the LASU Vice Chancellor, Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello with other top management official were on ground to witness the event. The turnout of people at the Sports Centre was better compared to the qualifying match.
With the VC's speech for the competition read, Professor Olatunji-Bello kicked off the finals of the Convocation Sports Competition. In the final football competition between Team Ojo and Team LASUCOM, it was a survival of the fittest affair as both teams were up to the task. They both showed grit, resilience and determination both halves. Just like the qualifiers match, the 1st half recorded no goals as both teams could not convert their chances.
Then, in the second half, with over 12 minutes into the game, the winning goal came in from Team Ojo's Mr Sam Edogo's header which could not be stopped by the LASUCOM shotstopper. The game was aggressive as both teams received a couple of yellow cards for offensive play. Unfortunately, for Team LASUCOM, their woes continued to pile up when one of their players was sent off for an intentional handball reducing them (LASUCOM) to 10 men. Even with the advantage, Team Ojo could not take the advantage of adding more goals as Team LASUCOM gave it their best by preventing such from happening again.
At sound of the final whistle, the whole centre was agog with celebration as Team Ojo was presented with the golden trophy by LASU VC while Team LASUCOM received the Silver, leaving the Bronze Trophy for Team Badagry.
Other sports competition results are as follows:
100m (male and female race): Male– Ojo 1st, Ojo 2nd, Badagry 3rd. Female– Ojo 1st, Ojo 2nd, Badagry 3rd.
Relay race (male and female): Male– Ojo 1st, LASUCOM 2nd, Badagry 3rd. Female– Ọjọ 1st, LASUCOM 2nd, Badagry 3rd.
There were also badminton and table tennis competitions, however no results was recorded at the time of filing this report.
Other high points of the event was the unveiling and charging of LASU representatives at the NUGA Games 2022 holding at UNILAG. The contingents were charged by the LASU VC (Administration), Prof. Adenike Boyo to represent the school well and come back home with laurels.
Speaking on the event and its significance, with ACJ-LASU after the qualifying match, was Mr Rahman (Team Ojo player from Security Unit) and Director of Studies and father of 2021 Best Graduating Student (Benjamin Olowu)Professor Razaq Olowu, who was also the Goalkeeper for Team Ojo in qualifying match.
According to Mr Rahman, Team Ojo did really well and utilised teamwork. He said, "We have really done well, we played as a team. Collectively, we are okay. So, they have trained well.
Commending the management for organising the event for the staffs, he said, "It is a very good plan by organising a kind of game that will bring the staff together. Through it we can bring d stafsf together.
On the other hand, Professor Olowu, who is also part of the planning committee for the competition, said it was great game and Team Ojo proved seniority.
In his words, "The game was good and we were able to see the difference between the footballer and those that are just coming up. We trained them well and that is why you are seeing that particular impressive performance and the scoreline.
In addition, Professor Olowu commented on the significance of the competition, saying the event was an avenue to exercise and relieve stress. He said, "The significance is that one, it helps in exercising our bodies and it is only during convocations that this one is being done.
"This convocation own is just to make the convocation an elaborate one, so that at least we know that apart from the fact that we are also doing Thursday exercises, we can also exercise during the convocation and that is why it is being incorporated into the convocation ceremonies," he added.
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