The 22nd National Sports Festival ended on Thursday, 29 May, 2025, with a grand closing ceremony inside the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
And tennis featured prominently as one of the sports that engaged fans and spectators inside the sports complex of the stadium, venue of the biannual event.
Not only did the foreign-based Nigerian tennis stars shine during the event, their Nigeria-based counterparts gave them a fight for their money in spectacular fashion.
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A total of twenty-three medals (gold, silver and bronze) were competed for across seven events during the eight-day event. Players competed for glory in the Men’s and Women’s Singles, Men’s and Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Men’s and Women’s Doubles events.
Leading the charge to make a historic mark at the competition was Oyinlomo Quadre, the new Oklahoma University student-athlete who made the switch from Florida International University (FIU), a few weeks before the Festival served off.
Quadre, a prior winner of six gold medals across two festivals, was the odds-on favourite to win in every event she participated in – Women’s Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Team, and she did not disappoint.
In fact, Delta, the State the 22-year-old player, had only four medals and there were all gold, won by the former world number 93 junior ITF tennis sensation, bringing her total haul at the Sports Festival to 10 gold medals across three editions.
Not in the recent history of tennis in Nigeria has there been any player so consistent on the national stage to come up with ten gold medals across different editions of the Sports Festival while still being quite young.
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Another player who created a lot of buzz for the competition was Christopher Bulus who represented Ogun, the host State. The people of the State nicknamed him Aremu, and he reciprocated their gesture by ensuring Ogun State won gold medals at the event.
As at the final medals count, Ogun State ended the competition as the second best team in the country, partly due to the two gold medals won by the only Nigerian player on the ATP rankings.
Bulus, participating in his first ever National Sports Festival, won gold medals in the Men’s Singles and Doubles event, where he partnered Aleem Azeez. He and his partner, Ohunene Yakubu, came short in the Mixed Doubles, losing only to Quadre and Ikechukwu Iloputa of Team Delta.
The US-based tennis star would later play the team event and, despite winning the first rubber in the final, he could not win the Doubles event which was won by the Bayelsa State team.
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Consequently, he returns to the United States with two gold and two silver medals from his first ever appearance at the Sports Festival, a feat he can only be proud of, given the tight schedule at the event.
Asides the established players dominating the event, thee Festival also opened up some youngsters to the reality of top tennis competition in Nigeria as they also made their mark felt at the event.
Ohunene Yakubu, Bright Emmanuel, Lorely Holzendorff, Gloria Samuel, Amir Mohammed, Gbolahan Olawale, Goodnews Aina all made their marks at the event, with a couple of them winning medals for their respective teams.
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The highlight of the event was the pair of Emmanuel and Aina winning Doubles bronze medals for their team (Invited Junior Athletes), a federal government constituted team for budding talents in every sport.
At the end of the day, Delta led the table with Ogun and Bayelsa coming in second and third respectively.
Medals:
- Delta: Four gold medals
- Ogun: Two gold, three silver, one bronze
- Bayelsa: One gold and two silver
- Edo: One silver, one bronze
- Ekiti: Three bronze
- Rivers: Two bronze
- IJA: One bronze
- Imo: One bronze
- FCT: One bronze
The twelve other States that participated, could not manage a medal at the event.
Feelers have it that the next edition of the event will take place in 2026, in Enugu State, eastern Nigeria.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep all our readers updated on other developments emanating from the 22nd Sports Festival.