From Musa Muhammad Kutama, Calabar
Aniekan Bassey has successfully defended his men’s singles table tennis gold medal for Ikot Ekpene at the 2026 Akwa Ibom State Sports Festival, defeating his elder brother, Wisdom Bassey, 3–1 in an all-family final.
According to a statement issued to our reporter by Mfon Patrick, the final was played on Wednesday at the Patience (Kemi) Umo Eno Hall of the NUJ Press Centre, Uyo.
The two brothers reached the final after securing victories in their respective semi-final matches.
While Wisdom, the elder of the two brothers, competed for his local government of origin, Uruan, Aniekan opted to represent Ikot Ekpene, the same local government he represented at last year’s festival, where he won the men’s singles gold medal.
Aniekan maintained his dominance in the final, winning 11–9, 11–9, 5–11, 11–7 to retain his title and secure back-to-back gold medals for Ikot Ekpene in the men’s singles table tennis event.
Wisdom settled for the silver medal for Uruan.
Promise Okon of Etinan and Ubong Atata of Onna shared the bronze medals after finishing joint third.
In the women’s singles final, Edidiong Emmanuel of Itu defeated Goodness Atata of Onna 3–0 to claim the gold medal.
Esther Godswill of Mkpat Enin and Esther Noah of Ikot Ekpene finished joint third and received the bronze medals.
