Sujimoto Lagos team defeated BUA Group Lagos Team in one of the favorite games of the tournament at the just concluded 2010 Lagos International Polo Tournament. The epoch event was an opportunity to determine whether the strength of BUA Cement can withstand luxury finishing, quality and attention to detail of Sujimoto, Nigeria’s leading Luxury real estate company. The Sujimoto team did not hesitate to show their mettle when they thrashed BUA group to a 7 – 5 score line.
The tournament which was held at the elitist Ikoyi Polo Club on the 12th of February, saw the Luxury Real Estate giant, Sujimoto Construction limited turn Ikoyi to Sotogrande of some sort when they clashed with Africa’s number one cement giant – BUA Group. A game in which Sujimoto weathered the storm and emerged triumphant after BUA Group took a 4 – 2 lead, in what could easily pass for the best come back of the game, to win with a generous score line of 7-5 in favor of Sujimoto.
Speaking after the tournament, Managing Director of Sujimoto Constructions Limited, Sijibomi Ogundele remarked that “to be 2nd is to be last! Everyone remembers Usain Bolt, but nobody remembers the 2nd best runner. If you must win, win big!”
Established after the introduction of the noble game by the British colonial masters in 1904, Lagos Polo Club stands alone as a green gem and a watering hole for the country’s elites in the heart of Ikoyi, one of the upscale neighborhoods of Nigeria’s commercial hub Lagos.
Speaking about the 2020 edition of the Lagos International Polo Tournament, Mr. Sijibomi Ogundele, CEO of Sujimoto Construction whose luxury construction company is sponsoring one of the teams at the international event, recalled with nostalgia his childhood memories of the prestigious Ikoyi Polo Club and how it inspired the Entrepreneur in him, he said;
“As a little boy, I would come to Ikoyi Polo Club. Sit on the fence to get a proper view of the game, watching the agility of horses, the swing of players, and the cheers of spectators, I would remember the words of my teacher, that ‘there was no nobility in poverty’. The only way to move, from an Oko-Oba to Ikoyi, was to saddle my dreams against the tides of poverty, poverty of location, poverty of association, and most importantly, poverty of the mind. Today, 30 years later, we have a Sujimoto Building in the same Ikoyi and also in Banana Island, a testament to the power of dreaming big”.
This year, the Lagos International Polo Tournament, themed “Lagos Develops Polo”, aims to encourage the participation of young and indigenous talented players while featuring top class action from some of the most experienced and acclaimed polo players in and out of the country, including South Africa’s Chris Mackenzie +7, Argentina’s Andres Crespo +5, Raul Laplacette +7 and Santiago de Estrada +6, as well as Nigeria’s Neku Atawodi-Edun +5, the first black female polo player and the highest-handicapped female player at the tournament.
The event which was split into two weekends of open-ended games, offered four major glittering prizes, with the Majekodunmi Cup donated in 1952 by the then administrator of Western Region, Majekodunmi as the biggest prize. Other highly revered prizes include the medium-goal Open Cup, Sliver Cup and the Lagos Low Cup.
Speaking about the achievement of the Sujimoto Team and plan for the future, Mr. Ogundele remarked that:
“We are proud of what we have done in this game and also in our business. For the first time in Nigeria, we are planning to name one of our luxury lounges, the Polo Lounge. This lounge will be situated in Sujimoto’s new Banana Island Project – the LucreziaBySujimoto, which has been dubbed the tallest residential building in Banana Island and first fully automated building in Africa”.