ITTF WORLD TOUR (LAGOS OPEN) DAY 4

Winner International Table Tennis Federation, ITTF World Tour, Lagos Open, Men’s Under21 Shagdy Magdy of Egypt

The Round of 16, Quarter Finals and Semi-finals of games (Singles & Doubles) went down today at the Dr.Molade Okoya Thomas Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium.

There were lots exciting moments to savour as Table Tennis supporters from far and wide came to watch the best players in Africa and in the world do their thing.

Nigerian Athletes have proven their worth as Ojo Onaolapo, Aruna Quadri, Funke Oshonaike and Edem Effiong have all made it to the semi-finals in the singles event.

The future also look good for Nigeria as far as table tennis is concerned as we saw a scintillating performance from Hassan Nurudeen who seems to be getting better as the day goes by and who might end up winning the U-21 title next year.

Dina Meshref at the International Table Tennis Federation, ITTF World Tour, Lagos Open, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, Togo

The Foreign players have also put up fine displays in this tournament like Jieni Shao, Dina Meshref, Andre Silva, El-Belaili Mohammed.

DAY 4

RESULTS(Doubles)

MEN

QUARTER FINAL

* A.Silva & D.Siva def A.Ogunalade & O.Omotayo (3-1)

* K.Assar & O. Assar def O.Guinganfode & M.Olabiyi (3-0)

* El-Beiali & S.Magdy def M.Fathy & A.Mabrouk (3-0)

* Q.Aruna & M.Kazeem def O.Onaolaopo & B.Oyeniyan (3-1)

SEMI-FINAL

* A.Silva & D.Silva def K.Assar & O.Assar (3-1)

* Q. Aruna & M.Kazeem def El-Beiali & S.Magdy (3-2)

WOMEN

QUARTER FINAL

*D.Meshref & J.Shao def F.Ajala & N.Aroyehun (3-1)

*G.Nasser & Y.Helmy def R.Oguindele & E.Oribamise (3-0)

*C.Akpan & O.Edem def F.Abdel-Aziz & F.Alaa(3-0)

*O.Atinuke & I.Ermakova def F.Bello & A.Odusanya (3-1)

SEMI- FINAL

* D.Meshref & J.Shao def G.Nasser & Y.Helmy (3-2)

* C.Akpan & O.Edem def O.Atinuke & I.Ermakova (3-2)

SINGLES

Round of 16

MEN

* El-Beiali def N.Hassan (4-2)

* O.Onaolapo def M.Babatunde (4-1)

*M.Kazeem def O.Olaniyi (4-2)

* Q.Haruna def H.Adeyinka (4-0)

* A.Silva def A.Fagbamila (4-0)

* K.Assar def D.Silva (4-3)

* B.Oyeniyan def S.Ramadan (4-2)

* O.Assar def M.Fathy (4-0)

International Table Tennis Federation, ITTF World Tour, Lagos Open, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, Togo

QUARTER-FINAL

* Q.Aruna def M.Kazeem (4-0)

* O.Onaolapo def El-Beiali (4-2)

* O.Assar def B.Oyeniyan (4-1)

* A.Silav def K.Assar. (4-1)

Funke Oshonaike, International Table Tennis Federation, ITTF World Tour, Lagos Open, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, Togo

WOMEN

QUARTER FINAL

*D.Meshref def Y.Helmy (4-0)

* O.Edem def J.Effiom (4-0)

* O.Oshonaike def G.Nasser (4-3)

* J.Shao def I. Ermakova (4-0)

FIXTURES

MEN’S DOUBLES FINAL

*A.Silva & D.Silava vs Q.Aruna & M.Kazeem

WOMEN’S DOUBLES FINAL

* D.Meshref & J.Shao vs C.Akpan vs O.Edem

Winner International Table Tennis Federation, ITTF World Tour, Lagos Open, Men’s Under21 Shagdy Magdy of Egypt

MEN’S SINGLES

SEMI- FINAL

* Q.Aruna vs O.Onaolapo

* O.Assar vs A. Silva

WOMENS SINGLES

SEMI-FINAL

* D.Meshref vs O.Edem

* O.Oshonaike vs J.Shao.

Lagos ITTF World Tour: Quadri, Meshref Are Top Seeds

As the highest world-rated players listed for the competition, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Egypt’s Dina Meshref have been seeded the top players in the men and women singles events of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour tagged Lagos Open.

In the seeding list released by the world table tennis ruling body, ITTF, Quadri who is rated 32 in the world is seeded number one while his arch-rival and defending champion, Egypt’s Omar Assar is seeded number two while Assar’s compatriot, Mohammed El-Beiali is number three.

The absence of Nigeria’s Segun Toriola may have paved the way for El-Beiali, who accounted for Quadri’s exit in the quarterfinal stage of the ITTF Africa Senior Championships to be seeded number three in the tournament.

Also listed in the top eight seeding list of the men’s singles are Portugal’s Andre Silva, Nigeria’s Boboye Oyeniyan, Egypt’s Khalid Assar, Nigeria’s Ojo Onaolapo and Togo’s Mawussi Agbetoglo.

Last year’s runner’s up and ITTF Africa Senior Championship winner, Meshref tops the women’s top four seeding list. Nigeria’s Funke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong are seeded two and three respectively, while Russia’s Irina Ermakova is seeded fourth.

In the U-21 seeding, defending champion in the boys’ category, Nigeria’s Onaolapo is seeded number one, while other players listed in the top four seeding list are Egypt’s duo of Shady Magdy and Mahmoud Fathy as well as Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo.

Nigerian Women’s Team, at the 2015 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships

Egypt dominated the girls’ U-21 seeding with 20 year-old Meshref topping the seeding list. Her compatriots – Fatma Alaa and Yousra Helmy also made the list while the only Nigerian in the top four seeding list is Funke Hassan.

Meanwhile, over 90 journalists drawn from newspapers, magazine, radio and television stations including two international media, Supersport and Xinhua have been accredited for the championship serving off on March 10 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, Nigeria.

ITTF World Tour: Ondo T/Tennis players canvass for Govt sponsorship

Players of Ondo State Table Tennis Association yesterday in Akure called on the state government to come to their aids by sponsoring them to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World championships.

It was recalled that the state Teams; senior and junior were invited to represent Nigeria in the world tour following their excellent performance at the NTTF Pilot League and Toyin Okenla National Secondary School championships held respectively in Lagos.

In a separate interview with newsmen, the players thanked the state Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko for his timely love and support for Table Tennis begging for his quick intervention in order to participate in the career boosting championships.

“It is not common to invite a state to represent it’s country in an international championship and this shows that we have records. We want to thank the government for the encouragement, the World Tour will boost our rankings as players and a state”, Ojo Onaolapo said.

“Attending the championship will improve and expose the standard of the grassroots programme of the Dr. Mimiko led government. We need to improve on our knowledge and skills”, Akinyinka Kehinde added.

According to the invitation letter, the Sunshine senior team is expected to represent Nigeria in the GAC Group ITTF World Tour, China Open Chengdu Super Series between June 4 and 8 while their junior counterparts will do same at the Funchal Junior & Cadet Open ITTF Circuit in Portugal between September 3 and 6.

However, The Teams head coach, Adedotun Omoniyi urged the state government to sponsor the teams which he said will help in preparing the players for the forth coming National Sports Festival slated for Calabar.

“Table Tennis remains the states’ number one area of advantage in a competition so there is need to expose players to modern techniques”.

“The penalty for non show policy, there be a charge of £150 per player and coach and cancellation amounts will be added to the association’s invoice to be paid together with the hospitality costs to the organisers either by bank transfer or by cash on site.

Also the association will not be allowed to enter future World Tour events if any cancellation fees remain outstanding”, ITTF Competition Manager, Karl Jindrak said.

The senior players include; Ojo Onaolapo, Boboye Oyeniyan, Fagbamila Akinwale and Akeem Lasisi while Oladiran Joshua, Akomolafe Sunday, Amadi Umah and Akinyinka Kehinde form the junior team.