Victor Okoye, an Editor with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), was on Friday crowned champion of the 2024 FCT SWAN Week Table-tennis tournament in Abuja.
This was after he had dismissed giant-killer Godstime Egelege-Idama of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) 11 – 6 in the final to lift the prestigious trophy.
Okoye had also thrashed Fashemi Emmanuel of Kapital FM 11-4 in the semi-finals before putting an end to Egelege-Idama’s fairytale run in the tournament.
Egelege-Idama, on his part, had pulled off an upset in a game that was full of intensity, pressure, and sheer unpredictability.
This was after he completed a comeback victory in a thrilling semi-final match against Odion Abdulrazak of Liberty TV to send the match to a five-point decider.
The much fancied Abdulrazak had begun the game on the front foot after he raced unto a massive 7-0 lead, as he looked to run away with the win and book a final berth against Okoye
However, Egelege-Idama had other ideas of his own as he stepped up his game to quickly bounce back and tie the game at 10-10, which forced the nervy encounter into a nail-biting decider.
Odion would finally crack under pressure as he lost 3-5 to a much more rejuvenated Egelege-Idama who had the wind in his sails.
But Egelege-Idama failed to replicate the form which had seen him gain the hard earned reputation of a “giant-killer” as a ruthless Okoye quickly dismissed any thought of another fairytale win and ended his lofty title ambition in the final.
