Tag Archives: Jieni Shao

NIGERIA OPEN WINNERS GET IMPROVED WORLD RANKING — newfanzoneblog

Players that performed well at the 2016 ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open have started getting rewarded for their efforts after the world table tennis ruling body released the June ranking on Wednesday. Specifically, the men and women singles winners, Finland’s Benedek Olah and Portugal’s Jieni Shao are among the biggest movers in the latest world […]

via NIGERIA OPEN WINNERS GET IMPROVED WORLD RANKING — newfanzoneblog

Olah, Shao Hold Sway At ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open — newfanzoneblog

Finland’s Benedek Olah first trip to Africa ended in celebration after the Finnish claimed his first ITTF World Tour title at the 2016 Premier Lotto Nigeria Open on May 22. Also, Jieni Shao’s second trip to Africa ended well as she retained her women singles title at the Nigeria Open. To emerge as men singles […]

via Olah, Shao Hold Sway At ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open — newfanzoneblog

ITTF Unveils Seeding List For ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open — newfanzoneblog

The seeding list of players that will compete at the ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open has been unveiled by the world table tennis ruling body. The seeding list is made up of 16 men and eight women in the singles while four boys and a girl were also listed in the seeding list of the […]

via ITTF Unveils Seeding List For ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open — newfanzoneblog

Portugal, Egypt, Russia, Others Confirm For Lagos ITTF World Tour

With the expiration of players’ registration for this year’s International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour tagged Lagos Open, Egypt, Portugal, Russia, seven others as well as host – Nigeria have been confirmed for the five-day tournament holding next month in Lagos.

According to the list of confirmed players by ITTF, the Egyptian team will be led by current ITTF Africa Senior champion, Omar Assar and he will be joined by 12 compatriots including current African women’s champion, Dina Meshref.

Also, Portugal has the trio of Diogo Silva, Andre Silva and Jieni Shao, while Russia will be represented by Irina Ermakova.

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

Iran will also be debuting at the tournament with the duo of Afshin Noroozi and Nima Alamian coming to Lagos, while other teams like Benin, Cameroun, Congo DRC, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Togo will also be part of the $46,000 prize money championship holding on March 10 to 14 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.

Also, Nigeria will be led by the current ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri while veteran and six-time Olympian, Segun Toriola will also be part of the contingent.

For the women event, Nigeria will be represented by Germany-based Funke Oshonaike, Portugal-based Edem Offiong and winner of the maiden edition of the tournament, Cecilia Otu-Akpan.

Over 100 players have been listed for the tournament, which is the second challenge series in the ITTF World Tour calendar after the Hungary Open held in January.

According to the Tournament Director, Oluranti Lajide, this year’s tournament is unique as all eyes will be on Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri while the Egypt’s warlords led by bespectacled Omar Assar, who made the biggest move in the latest ranking this month by moving from 57 to 43 in the world.

Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium
Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium

“From the quality of players coming for this year’s championship, it is obvious that the feat achieved by Quadri has really attracted more players to this tournament and everybody is eager to face the ITTF Star Player.

The Egyptians will surely be aiming to defend the title they won last year and for the Nigeria female team, this is another opportunity to prove critics wrong about their dwindling fortune in the game. Being the year of the All Africa Games, most Nigerian players know that this is an avenue for them to play their way into the national team and it is going to be exciting,” Lajide said.