Having watched Egypt claimed three titles ahead of them in the ITTF Africa Senior Championships, Nigeria showed their quality in the men’s doubles as the pair of Aruna Quadri and Segun Toriola retained the men’s doubles title. Pairing for the first time in a major championship, the partnership of Aruna Quadri and Segun Toriola conquered […]
via Nigeria Retains Men’s Doubles Title At ITTF Africa Senior Championships — newfanzoneblog
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.
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)
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)
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
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.
Despite losing his first round matches at the Kuwait and Qatar Opens, Aruna Quadri’s presence at these tournaments has earned him a step up in the latest ranking released late on Wednesday by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
Also, the winner of the ITTF Africa Senior championships, Egypt’s Omar Assar achieved the biggest feat of his career by climbing from 43 to 37 in the world.
Nigeria’s Quadri moved from 73 to 30 in the world following his exploits at the ITTF World Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany but his inactivity at global level contributed to his slide in December to 31. But his quarterfinal exit at the ITTF Africa Senior Championships in Cairo when he was beaten by Egypt’s Mohammed El-Beiali forced his rating to drop to 32.
For taking part in two of the Super Series in the ITTF World Tour calendar in 2015, Quadri gained some points but his two losses in the tournaments may have affected him to just move by one step up in the ranking ladder.
Unlike Quadri, Egypt’s Assar won the Cairo tournament as well as made it to the quarterfinal stage of the Qatar Opens and all thse performance aided his giant strides in the February and March rankings.
In January, his name was conspicuously missing in the world ranking due to his inactiveness toward the end of 2014. But the Egyptian made an emphatic return to the rating after winning the ITTF Africa Senior Championships in Cairo and this pushed him to 43 in the world. His performance at the Qatar Open further improved his world rating, as the former African Junior Champion is now rated 37 in the world, six steps below Quadri.
However, Quadri and Assar may come face-to-face with each other in the final of the Lagos ITTF World Tour after both players were seeded number one and two by the organizers.
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.
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.
Twice Egypt’s Omar Assar has come to Lagos and these visits have been rewarded with medals. In 2013, he defeated Nigeria’s Segun Toriola to win the maiden Lagos International Classics. when the tournament was finally listed on the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour calendar, the Egyptian star once again went home with the title beating his compatriot – El-Sayed Lashin to the title.
Again this year, the ITTF Africa Senior Championships winner believes he has the wherewithal to set a record of clinching the competition for the third time.
As the defending champion, Assar believes the fans have always given him moral support to triumph at previous championships.
“I have respect to all the players in the tournament specially my teammates as well as Nigerian players. – It is always fun to play in Lagos and I am always look forward to the competition every year and I have also included it in my schedule since I played my first tournament in 2013,” he said.
The 43rd world rated player admitted that he expects tough opposition in Lagos but is optimistic that he will retain the title.
“I am always nervous in every tournament I play even when I am listed as the top seed. This does not matter to me because I am always focused during the preparation and dreaming about coming first as well as clinching the gold medal,” he added.
For this year, he said: “I expect a better tournament starting with the organization and more participants too from different country. I also expect more fans to come and cheer the players this year. Lagos World Tour is a special event for me and I am always looking forward to playing in Lagos every year.”
As one of the biggest movers in the ITTF ranking in February, Assar said he hopes to continue with this improvement this year. “I have improved so much during the last three month so my performance will be better than what they saw last year. I am still too far in the ranking and I dream to achieve much more higher than 43 in the world,” he said.
Reminiscing on his previous successes, Assar described beating Nigeria’s Segun Toriola and compatriot, El-Sayed Lashin as memorable moments in the competition.
The 23 year-old bespectacled star, said the feat achieved Aruna Quadri would surely pull crowd to the venue of the competition in Lagosmemorable moments in the competition.
The 23 year-old bespectacled star, said the feat achieved y Aruna Quadri would surely pull crowd to the venue of the competition in Lagos
The world table tennis ruling body, International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has named Egypt’s Nabil Almamoon as the referee for next month’s ITTF World Tour tagged Lagos Open.
The experienced referee is one of the most respected officials in the world and he has handled major tournaments with his recent being the last ITTF Africa Senior Championships.
For his understanding of the game coupled with his performance in previous editions, Almamoon will return to Lagos on March 10 to 14 to preside over officiating at the tournament taking place at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
The Egyptian will be assisted by Algeria’s Boudjehem Abdallah, while his compatriot, Mounir Bessah has also been confirmed as the competition manager.
According to tournament director, Oluranti Lajide, more than 30 officials will handle proceedings at the championship with Ghana, Togo and Cameroun being represented.
Also 26 Nigerian international and national umpires will be on duty while a refresher course for the officials will precede the kick off of the competition.
“We are also going to update the knowledge of all the officials handling matches at the tournament because there new rules and regulations which they must also be acquainted with. We are organising a refresher course for all selected umpires and this will be handled by top referees. For us, we are not only focusing on the players, we also want to update our officials so that they can handle the game very well,” Lajide said.
Over 12 countries are expected to be part of the five-day championship. The teams are Egypt, Portugal, Russia, Benin, Cameroun, Congo DRC, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Togo will be part of the $46,000 prize money championship.
Just as it had been predicted, Nigeria and host – Egypt will battle for the top prize in the final of the team events at the ongoing International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior championship in Cairo.
The two teams will battle for the gold in the men and women events of the championship.
To make it to the final of the women’s division, Nigeria walloped Algeria 3-0, while Egypt had a narrow escape against Congo Brazzaville in the thrilling semifinal tie which ended 3-2 in favour of the North Africans.
In the men’s cadre, it was Ojo Onaolapo who started the rout against the Congo Brazzaville team made up of Nigeria’s trio of Saheed Idowu, Saka Suraju and Abiodun Lawal.
Idowu gave Onaolapo a run for his money as the game was stretched to five with the left-handed Onaolapo winning 3-2.
ITTF World Player of the year, Aruna Quadri did not disappoint the fans in the second match against Suraju as he whitewashed the ageing Congolese star 3-0 to put the game at 2-0 in favour of the West Africa power house.
Homegrown Kazeem Makanjuola had a torrid time against Lawal as the game was stretched to five but it was the Congolese that won 3-2 to put the match at 2-1.
To ensure that Nigeria sail through, Quadri completed the victory with a 3-0 win over Idowu.
On Sunday, the two finals will be played at the International Hall of Police Sports Association in Cairo.
Since the commencement of the competition, Quadri has not dropped any match, which table tennis buffs believe has confirmed his rating as world’s best.
Egypt’s Omar Assar became Lagos fans’ favourite in 2013 when he clinched the Lagos Classics title ahead of Nigeria’s Segun Toriola but with the rise of Aruna Quadri globally, the Egyptian believes Nigeria cannot stop them from sweeping medals at the forthcoming International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior Championships holding in Cairo next week.
Although he predicted a tough challenge in Cairo, the 2011 All Africa Games gold medalist said he is optimistic that Egypt can hold sway at home.
“I hope it will be a very tight competition between all teams and players and I wish Egypt will dominate all events. But we respect all our opponents and we will not play to the gallery,” he said.
The Mediterranean Games champion believes the presence of Aruna Quadri-inspired Nigeria as well as Congo Brazzaville and Tunisia would pose a major challenge to Egypt. “We will surely face tough challenge from top teams especially Nigeria, Congo Brazzaville and Tunisia and I believe this will add a special taste to the tournament.”
Assar, who is yet to play to his optimum in the last one year, believes he can re-enact his form in Cairo. “I am looking forward to perform my best at the tournament especially as it is holding in Cairo and I am sure this will impart positively on table tennis in Egypt with the quality of players expected at the seven-day tournament.”
The 23-year-old Egyptian star is however, inspired by the feat achieved by Nigeria’s Quadri, describing it as a plus to the game in Africa. “Quadri is a good player and what he achieved in 2014 was something that will surely inspire a lot of us to aim to break his record in future,” he added.
Following the not-too-impressive performance by the North African at the just concluded ITTF World Team Cup, Assar said he had a good outing having beaten Austria’s Stefan Fegerl in one of the matches. “Nothing went wrong for us in Dubai because we had a good preparation before the competition and personally I am satisfied with my performance following the win against Austria’s Stefan Fegerl,” Assar added.
Ahead ITTF Africa Senior Championships: Nigeria, Congo Brazzaville Will Be Threats In Cairo, Says Egypt’s Lashin
El-Sayed Lashin is one of the most experienced players in the Egyptian national team and he has ruled the continent at several occasions but the veteran player said that Nigeria and Congo Brazzaville will be threat to Egypt’s title ambition at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior Championships holding next month in Cairo.
Lashin, will be leading the Egyptian team to the ITTF World Team Cup holding in Dubai on January 6 to 9 also admitted that retaining the men’s single title would be a hard for him with the quality of Nigerian players led by Africa’s rave of the moment, Aruna Quadri.
Aside Nigeria, Lashin Congo Brazzaville, which recently naturalized two Chinese players, would be a team to beat.
“We know that table tennis in Africa is on the rise at present and in every competition, it is always very hard for any country to dominate the tournament. It is always very tough against Nigeria and Congo Brazzaville. I heard that Congo Brazzaville just got two Chinese players and for us this is going to put a lot pressure on us as the host nation. For me I like to play under pressure and I look forward to this,” he said.
He added: “As the host country, we will remain positive because it is going to be hard for us in front of our fans. We will surely have more players in the competition as the host and most especially in the singles events.”
He added that that he has to be at his best to hold on to the men’s singles title in Cairo come January 23 to 29.
“I will surely give my best and I know it is not going to be easy at all. I need to fight to the end to ensure that nobody takes my title away from me. I need to hold on to the title and I have started working hard for this,” Lashin said.
He however tipped Quadri for the ITTF Star Awards, saying winning the award would surely give the continent a voice in global table tennis.
President, Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy believes Nigeria and Egypt will be title contenders at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior Championships holding next month in Cairo.
The ATTF, who is still thrilled with the singular effort of Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri this year, believes the Portugal-based has the quality to clinch the ITTF Star Awards.
“I believe it is too much difficult for any country in Africa to dominate the tournament this year, owing to the high level of competition and close standard between the trio of Nigeria, Congo Brazzaville and Egypt”, said El-Salhy.
From the records of the tournament, Nigeria and Egypt have always dominated the competition. In 1985 in Alexandria and three years later in Lagos, Nigeria completed a clean sweep of titles; in 2004 in Mauritius, Egypt did exactly the same.
Now, for the forthcoming 2015 ITTF-Africa Championships, which starts in Cairo on Friday 23rd January, no nation is sure of leaving Egypt’s capital city on Thursday 29th January with a full house of titles? The ATTF is hopeful that Quadri will win the Male Table Tennis Star of the Year Award at the Dubai Star Awards Gala Dinner in early January.
“For sure, Quadri’s presence in Egypt will raise the level of competition in all the events”, added Khaled Ek-Salhy. “I am sure Quadri is planning to improve his standard and ranking in the New Year, as at the same time all other competitors from Egypt and Congo Brazzaville.”
After his efforts on the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour and at the Liebherr Men’s World Cup, Quadri has become a name to note.
“It was a great pleasure for me personally and for the Africa Table Tennis Federation to have an African nominee for the ITTF Star Awards, especially Quadri Aruna, who is a nominee in two categories”, added the ATTF helmsman.
“I personally voted for him and asked all my close friends to do the same to promote the sport in Africa; let’s pray that the award finally goes to the right person.”
In addition to his nomination for the Male Star of the Year, Quadri Aruna is also nominated in Point of the Year; the instance being at the Liebherr Men’s World Cup when he stunned China’s champion elect, Zhang Jike.
A stunning performance and from Quadri no doubt more to come; in Cairo he will be a name to note; certainly he the principal challenger to host nation aspirations of a possible full house.
To be part of the 2015 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior Championships holding in Egypt, the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) is seeking the financial support of the National Sports Commission (NSC) to make the trip to Cairo.
According to NTTF Secretary General, Chinedu Ezeala-Ogundare, the Cairo tournament serves as prerequisite for any team to be part of the 2015 World Championships in China while it would also brighten the country’s chances of getting more slots at the 2015 All Africa Games as well as the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“The competition was scheduled to hold in Sudan this year but because of the Ebola Virus Disease, it was cancelled. But the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) just confirmed to us that the tournament will now be hosted by Egypt and this is a must for us and we must make it down there. For now, we are hoping to assemble our best players within and across the globe so that we can have a strong team.
We are using this medium to appeal to NSC to support us financially in order to be part of this competition.
The performance of Aruna Quadri has now put more attention on Nigeria and for us, we need to be part of the competition to ascertain our status as continental power house,” she said.
The tournament serves as a major requirement for any nation to be part of the 2015 All Africa Games, World Championships and 2016 Olympic Games.
The NTTF scribe however, lauded the NSC for their unflinching backing in 2014, adding that she is optimistic that the country would make it to Egypt.
In a statement made available by ATTF and signed by Mokhtar Toukabri, the tournament serves off on January 23 to 29. “ATTF has the pleasure in sending to all African Associations the new date of the 2014 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships, 23-29 January 2015 and it will be held in Cairo – Egypt. We need to remind all Associations that this event is a prerequisite for all whom would like to participate in the 2015 WTTC in Suzhou – China during 27/4 – 3/5/2015, which means that no entries from Africa in the WTTC except for those African Associations with at least one player to join us in the 2014 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships, Cairo 23-29 January 2015 according to the new rules of ITTF,” he said.
Meanwhile, Egypt will hoist Africa’s flag at the World Team Cup holding in Dubai next month.
newfanzone 