The newly introduced Pink Polo Campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness and the inaugural Chief Moses Majekodunmi legacy Exhibition were major highlights of the just concluded 2023 NPA/GTCO Lagos International Polo Tournament that delivered on all fronts both on and off the pitch.
Nigeria’s premier polo club, joined the global campaign to raise awareness on breast cancer as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility with the debut of the glittering Cancer Bowl prize which was contested for at the by 2023 Lagos International Polo Tournament.
The Pink Polo final which was watched by a full house at the foremost Ribadu Road Polo Ground in Ikoyi saw Lagos Tharwa team defeated MCO polo team 5-3 to write their names in gold as the first ever winners of the Cancer awareness campaign trophy in Lagos.
Lagos Polo President, Bode Makanjuola who thanked the crowd for supporting the Lagos Cancer Awareness campaign, stated that the support of the Pink Polo campaign was toad a meaningful action in the fight against breast cancer which remains the second biggest killer of Nigerian women after maternal mortality.
He added that Lagos Polo Club’s decision to lend its huge corporate image to the campaign is to create a robust platform that will spark significant national awareness about the disease.
Every year, breast cancer kills more than 500,000 women around the world. In resource-poor settings, a majority of women with breast cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage of disease, resulting in low survival rates.
Meanwhile, the second most talked about highlight of the prestigious Lagos polo festival was the exhibition, hosted by the Lagos Polo Club in collaboration with Moses Majekodunmi Archive in Ikoyi.
The exhibition that attracted thousands throughout the three weeks long polo extravaganza gave viewers a complete history of happenings at the club for over 50 years.
The materials were drawn from his archives, which hold about 7,000 images and 11,000 documents around the life and times of Dr. Majekodunmi, tell the story of Nigeria and individuals whose names are engraved on sands of history of the noble game.
Makanjuola who conducted guests and visitors around the exhibition said that legacy tells the story of Chief Majekodunmi and his contributions to the development of the Lagos Polo Club.
“This important legacy preserved by the Moses Majekodunmi Foundation would serve as a source of education for generations to come, “ he added.
The Eko 2023 polo festival which is still receiving accolades from across the polo world saw Lagos based teams having a swell time as they stamped their superiority with an emphatic clean sweep of all the major prizes at stake.
It would be recalled that Bowale Jolaoso- powered Leighton Kings and Funsho George-led GDF Global team were the leading lights sharing six major titles between themselves.
Leighton King won the event’s biggest prize, the Majekodunmi Cup, the Open Cup, the Dapo Ojora Cup and the Independence Cup, while GDF Global accounted for the Lagos Low Cup and the Chief of Naval Cup respectively.