Two students of the Human Kinetics Department, Ekiti State University (EKSU) are set to represent the university and Nigeria at the 31st World University Games in China.
The two students are Abayomi Animasaun and Tolulope Aluko who will be part of Team Nigeria Table tennis Squad.
The qualification came after lots of hardwork and tenacity of purpose on the path of the industrious students as they emerged best among over two thousand students from across the country who contested at the World University Games qualifiers in Edo State.
The qualification has given EKSU students the rare privilege to join over ten thousand students from across the globe that will participate in the “UNIVERSITY STUDENTS OLYMPIC GAMES” with multi faceted opportunities that abound for both EKSU and the students.
The Nigeria University Games Association (NUGA) will take care of the cost of registration, accommodation and feeding of all the qualified students from Nigeria while commitment on the path of every University whose students have qualified is only on air tickets to travel and return to the country after the tournament.
The Director of Sports , EKSU Alumni Association, Ekiti State Chapter, Qozeem Oladapo has therefore passionately appealed to the Ekiti State University Management headed by Vice Chancellor, Professor Edward Olanipekun, the Global President of EKSU Alumni Association and the Governir Biodun Oyebanji led Ekiti State government to kindly help in the actualization of this once in a lifetime opportunity to expose Ekiti born sports talents to the world and put them in good stead to build a lofty career for themselves.
The World University Games 2023 will hold between July 28 and August 8, 2023.
The 2 EKSU Students and the accompanying official, Deputy Director of Sports, Mr Josiah Adesogan need the sum of One point Eight Million Naira (1.8million) each as air tickets from the University, government, interested individuals and corporate bodies to join their colleagues at the World University Games and the said amount must be paid on or before July 7 or else the opportunity will be forfeited for ever.
The duo of Abayomi Animasaun and Tolulope Aluko are following the footstep of an EKSU Alumnus, Tosin Oribamise who had brought pride to the institution and the country through sports at various international tournaments and the contributions of the university towards her progress as a student could not be over-emphasized.
For Abayomi Animasaun, he came second at the World Under 15 Junior championship in China in 2015 and same position in 2018 having earlier won gold in Egypt in 2017 and represented Nigeria at the World Junior Table Tennis Circuit on 2020 in Ghana.
He was crowned champion at the Nigeria University Games -NUGA 2022 .
Tolulope Aluko, a female Table Tennis player was champion at the Ekiti State Higher Institutions Games (ESHIGA) in 2019 and won singles bronze plus mixed doubles silver at the 2022 NUGA in Lagos.
It is expected that the needful will be done by the concerned authorities so as to boost the career of the two students and showcase the University as one of the sports promoting institutions in the World.
