HOPE UDOAKA AND AKINYEMI WILSON WEATHER LASU STORM TO DELIVER WAUG TABLE TENNIS MIXED DOUBLES GOLD FOR BIU

Current NUGA Games Title holders, Benson Idahosa University emerged winners of the Table Tennis mixed doubles category. The duo, Hope Udoaka, a 400L student and Akinyemi Adebowale Wilson, an 100L student secured gold in what was an high-intensity match. They had recovered from an opening-game defeat, won the next two and then watched Lagos State University force the contest into a deciding game.

There was little room left for another mistake at this point. BIU's pair eventually found what they needed, wining the fifth game 11-7 to defeat eventual silver medalists LASU's Surmer Qudus and Surmer Zainab 3-2 (8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 3-11, 11-7) at the WAUG table tennis pavillon in the OAU Sports Centre.

For Hope Udoaka, this incredible victory was another milestone in her table tennis journey which began at the age 11. She had previously won the mixed doubles title at the 2023 edition of the WAUG Games, although with a different partner. At WAUG 2026, she had to compete again with a new teammate, this time alongside Wilson, a first-time WAUG competitor and a 100-level Political Science student at Benson Idahosa University.

“I was just trying to put my mind together and believe” Udoaka said after the final. “It means so much to me. I believe consistency played a huge part in our win and I am very happy".

The result also adds another university title to a player whose career has already stretched well beyond the university level having achieved 171 as her ITTF career-best world ranking. Udoaka represented Nigeria at the FISU World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, winning two qualifying matches before reaching the main draw. In 2025, she won the women's singles title at the Michael and Felicia Alabi Memorial National Table Tennis Championships, defeating veteran Halima Hussain 4-1 in the final. She was also part of Nigeria's women's team at the 2026 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships in London.

Her international experience was very evident in the way she approached the final. LASU had won the opening game 11-8 but rather than allowing the early setback to dictate the contest, BIU stepped up their game.

“We knew they could play very well, so we were just trying to be composed and play more of a psychological game. After the first game, we decided not to rush anymore and simply play to slow down the game. That was the best thing we were able to do” Udoaka explained.

Akinyemi Wilson in his freshman year playing at his first WAUG Games described the final in more practical terms. He had deliberately used the opening game to study the opposition, paying attention to the patterns that were producing points for LASU. "I wanted us to win the first game but I tried to observe what they were going to play against us. I noticed some flaws and then I tried to make amendments in subsequent games”. He said.

One of those adjustments came with the team's service. Wilson noticed that LASU were getting points from the way he and Udoaka were serving. “I noticed that we were conceding points to our opponents due to our service so we had to try and change the technique". That adjustment helped BIU win the second and third games, both 11-8 and put the pair within one game of the title.

LASU, however, refused to disappear. Qudus and Zainab responded emphatically in the fourth game, racing to an 11-3 win and forcing a decider. The fifth game then became a test of execution. BIU returned to win 11-7 thus completing a comeback that had started with the opening-game loss.

Behind winning the gold medal was an intensive period of preparation. BIU had spent more than a month in camp preparing its athletes for WAUG, a period Wilson believes played a significant role in the outcome of the final. "We have been in camp for more than one month in the school and I think the training camp helped us a lot".

The demands of playing table tennis at an high-level have had to coexist with university life for both athletes. Hope Udoaka is a 400-level Library and Information Science student at BIU and she admits that balancing both worlds is rarely straightforward. "Balancing both is not easy” she said. “There is no schedule, there is no time. But table tennis is something I love so I always try to find a way for both worlds”.

Her presence also gives BIU a blend that was difficult to ignore at WAUG: an established international player alongside a freshman learning quickly on a major university stage.

Wilson, for his part, said the Games have already given him something beyond the medal. "Being at the games have afforded me the opportunity of gaining exposure, meeting more people and making more friends” he said.

The significance of universities in grassroots sports development was not lost on both champions. Udoaka and Wilson credited their university, BIU for the quality of preparation that brought them to the competition and said their ambition now is to repay that investment through further success in future competitions.