Sports

Rowland Adewumi Golf Tournament Tees-off in Grand Style

Published

12 months ago

June 15, 2024

Joel Ajayi

The maiden edition of the Rowland Adewumi Classic golf Tournament teed off in grand style on Saturday morning at the Prestigious IBB International Golf and Country Club in Abuja where both professional and amateur golfers are slugging it out for honour.

The competition was part of activities lined up to celebrate Otunba Rowland Adewumi’s 50th birthday

The celebrant arrived at the flourishing IBB golf course looking sporty and hearty in a celebration mood accompanied by his beautiful wife, Mrs Bukola Adewumi “The Yeye” as well as IBB golf Captain Ibrahim Babayo, Ladies Captain, and other dignitaries who graced the occasion as he officially teed-off the tourney when with he styles sent the ball into the fairway in his first drive to open the the tournament.

While speaking the soft-spoken Otunba Adewunmi said the reason for the tourney is part of his desire to grow the game of golf further.

According to him, I think the game of golf has been lagging, so I just decided to make my contribution to develop the game better.

“This is the inaugural tournament and I intend to make it a yearly affair in the spirit of developing the sport further, so apart from the game, we intend to do charity today, so we are supporting about four charity homes and orphanages and widows, so it’s not all about the game but at the same time supporting charity.

“The tournament has come to stay, I love the game, this is the inaugural one, and believe me subsequent years will even be better than this, and we intend to go international if possible.

“We need to support the pros in the country,, because if you look at the ranking in the world, Nigerian pros are not performing better, so I think the private sector, the government, and other stakeholders need to support the pros as well to lift up the game to a higher height,” he said.

In his remark, the IBB International Golf and Country Club Captain Ibrahim Babayo extolled the support and commitment of the celebrant toward the growth of the game of golf in the country and beyond.

“We are here for the maiden edition of the Rowland Adewumi professionals and Amateurs golf classic and to also celebrate Adewumi who is an excellent golfer (handicap 7) who is celebrating his 50th birthday and also starting his Pro-Am tournament which he has told me is going to be a yearly event.

“We can’t thank him enough because this is what the game needs in Nigeria.

“We have got talents that are not opportune to be exposed to this game and this gentleman, a philanthropist is doing that, creating the platform for the talents.

“I can tell you what he has done for us in this club is unprecedented, so we wish him a happy birthday and pray.

“We thank him for deepening the game of golf in Nigeria, we thank him for the sponsorship he’s been doing in IBB golf club, he’s one of our biggest donors and he’s been supportive of all our programs.

“In July we have an annual clinic, where for two weeks, the young ones come here to train and out of them we pick the best and we put them under our academy, we have an academy in IBB golf club that nurtures these young talents, we try to catch them young, so very soon we will be seeing some of our young talents, maybe in the West African tour, the African tour, the European tour and the ultimate maybe the PGA, so we that as a serious part of IBB golf club and Rowland Adewumi has been one of the people that have been supporting this cause for quite a while.”

However, the maiden edition of the Rowland Adewumi Classic Tournament highlighted the vibrant golfing talent in the country and provided a thrilling spectacle for all involved.

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Sports

A Triumphant Close to the 22nd National Sports Festival

Published

3 days ago

May 29, 2025

The Gleamer

…As organisers promise another spectacle at closing ceremony on Thursday

Joel Ajayi

After 11 days of a true showcase of sporting competition in multiple Sports by some of the country’s top and even promising athletes, the curtain will finally be drawn on what many have described as one of the best ever organised National Sports festivals, when the closing ceremony is held on Thursday at the MKO Sports Arena in Abeokuta.

Whilst the quality of the Games’ opening ceremony is still getting tongues wagging, the entire sporting family and beyond is now anxiously looking forward to what the closing ceremony will look like.

The last 11 days have showcased Ogun state as a true Sporting hub with potential to even do more, with the quality of the facilities built for the games and the enthusiasm of the people who made the various venues their second home in the last few days.

A big testament to this was the history-making crowd that attended the male football final between Ogun state and Kwara State, which the host won by 4-1.

The MKO stadium was filled to full capacity while the crowd outside watching from the big screen reminds one of how much Sports is truly the soul of our togetherness as a country.

From the Alake Sports centre in Ijeja and the Baptist boys high school, to the Obafemi Awolowo square and the Remo stadium both in Ikenne, to the NYSC orientation camp in Shagamu, and the Ilisan town hall in Ilisan, the festival never lacked spectatorship throughout the games.

The Games actually lived up to the pre-tournament hype as both the National Sports Commission, NSC and the Ogun state Government pulled out every administrative capacity to ensure both athletes, officials and the media have an unforgettable experience.

The Gateway Games 2024 had been full of exciting drama and intrigues amongst the states and athletes which led to different new records being set and some old records being shattered.

The festival has also produced for the country some new exciting young talents especially with the shocking performance of the 38th state, the Invited Junior Athletes ( IJA), where they ended up winning some surprised medals to justify the Commission’s establishment of the initiative.

As the Closing ceremony holds on Thursday, the leadership of the National Sports commission, NSC, expresses its profound gratitude to the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Ogun State Government for making sure millions of Nigerian youths see a renewed brighter future in the country through the National Sports Festival.
The NSC Chairman Mallam Shehu Dilko said ” our overwhelming gratitude goes to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,GCFR, for his personal commitment to the development of Nigerian Sports by giving us every support financially and otherwise for the success of this festival”.

” And the Ogun state Governor, Dapo Abiodun also deserves a huge praise for the feat we all recorded with these games. I can’t thank him enough and posterity will surely remember him for good “.

The NSC Director General who is also the Chairman of the Main organising committee of the games, Hon Bukola Olopade also extended his gratitude to all the technocrats behind the scene that are responsible for the successful organisation of the games.

” From all the members of the Main organising committee to the various sub committees, to members of the local organising committees and all our technical officials in the various sports to the media and our athletes, every success that everyone is talking about concerning these Games belongs to you all”.

” Yes it was not a perfect festival because we acknowledged we had also some challenges but let me assure everyone that some of the challenges are already being worked upon ahead of the next Games holding in Enugu state next year”, he concluded.

The Closing ceremony is expected to bring together top Government functionaries to captain of industries while there will also be the rich cultural display of the state as Ogun state will officially pass the barton of hosting to Enugu state for the 23rd edition of the Games come September 2026.

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