Ahead ITTF Africa Senior Cup: Kazeem Makanjuola Steps Into Big Shoes In Cameroon

Since his scintillating performance at the 2013 Lagos International Classics where he finished third, Kazeem Makanjuola has become a regular in the Nigerian team and he has featured in most of the international tournaments with his last outing being the 2015 World Championships in Suzhou, China.

And when one of Nigeria’s most decorated athletes, Segun Toriola withdrew from the 2015 ITTF Africa Senior Cup in Yaoundé, Cameroon, it was easy for the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) to call up Kazeem Makanjuola to step into the shoes of Toriola for the Cameroon tournament.

With this development, Makanjuola will be making his second appearance at the tournament after losing to Egypt’s El-Sayed Lashin in the quarterfinal stage of the 2013 edition in Oyo, Congo Brazzaville.

An excited Makanjuola knows what is at stake in Yaoundé and he is ready to better his 2013 outing in Yaoundé.

Kazeem Makanjuola, photo credit ITTF Media

“I am very excited that I was considered to step into the shoes of Segun Toriola after he withdrew due to ill-health and I understand the confidence that NTTF repose on me and I must ensure I don’t fail them in Cameroon. Also this has afforded me the rare opportunity to make my second appearance at the tournament after losing to El-Sayed Lashin in 2013 in the quarterfinal stage while I defeated him during the Club Championship at same event. For me, I see this as an opportunity to prove myself and make my country proud,” he said.
Prior to his call-up for the Cameroon competition, Makanjuola said he has been training hard in readiness for the All Africa Games after being included in the 20-man list released by NTTF for the multi-sports games in the Central African country come September.

“Before I got the nod to make the team to Cameroon, I have been training for the All Africa Games after being invited to camp and this has also put me in good shape for the Yaoundé tourney. My efforts in the past few weeks will surely be put to test in Yaoundé and I am confident that my best will come to fore,” he said.

Makanjuola however admitted the threat the Egyptians might pose to Nigeria, adding that others would not be able to withstand the prowess of the West African players.

“I know that the Egyptians are the only team that will want to prove hard because Congo Brazzaville are familiar opponents that we are sure of overcoming them in Cameroon. Personally my target is to make it to the semifinal stage and from there anything can happen. I finished in the last eight in 2013 and I hope I can do better than that this year without any intimidation from the Egyptians because they are beatable,” Makanjuola said.

Ma Long is the 2015 Men’s World Table Tennis Champion!

The 53rd World Championships concluded at the Suzhou International Expo Centre tonight, with the remaining two titles, Men’s Singles and Women’s Doubles World titles being decided.

World number one MA Long (CHN) became the Men’s World Champion for the first time, in front of the capacity crowd in Suzhou.

With this being his fourth time participation at world championships, MA played his first World Championships Men’s Singles gold medal stage tonight in Suzhou. His best result at past world championships was in the semifinals, where he met the now retired WANG Hao (CHN) on all three occasions.

The 26 year old faced compatriot FANG Bo who eliminated hot favorites XU Xin (CHN) as well as two-time defending and Olympic champion ZHANG Jike (CHN) en route to the finals.

Determined to get hold of the St. Bride Vase, MA was all fired up to dominate the court in front of the home crowd. Despite all of FANG’s efforts to turn the situation in his favour, MA won 4-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-13, 11-4) to claim the title that has eluded the world number one all these years.

Ma Long (CHN) .QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships,26 Apr 2015 – 03 May 2015, Suzhou, CHN, photo credit ITTF Media

“It is like a dream come true. Having losing in the semifinals at the three world championships previously, honestly I have a lot of pressure to earn this title. At the end of the day I think these was worth it.” shared the newly crowned champion.

In the other gold medal match of the night, DING Ning (CHN), who reclaimed her Women’s Singles title last night in the most dramatic fashion, put up a good fight with partner LI Xiaoxia (CHN) in the Women’s Doubles gold medal match.

Facing teammates LIU Shiwen and ZHU Yuling, DING/LI pulled off amazing rallies during the match to take the lead early in the match despite DING having difficulty moving around with her sprained ankle. LIU/ZHU, equally determined to take home the title, trailed closely behind in the match.

LIU/ZHU eventually prevailed 4-3 (8-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 11-8) to emerge victorious to claim the title. This defeat means that DING Ning has now played four Women’s Doubles finals in a row and have lost them all!

LIU who lost her women’s singles title against DING the night before, expressed “I was very upset after the loss last night. While I know I only have to accept it. I’d like to thank my coach, teammates and friends for their support.”

The 24 year old added “Since I had doubles to play today, I knew I had to be mentally tough. I cherish this match because I’ve never won the championship in single’s event before and I knew I had to give it my best effort tonight.”

Other than the two World Championship titles that was won, Japan’s 14 year old sensation Mima ITO won the Qoros Newcomer award for her outstanding performance at the Qoros 2015 World Championships. She battled her way to the quarterfinals on her debut here in Suzhou.

XU Xin and ZHANG Jike, Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships photo credit ITTF Media

Gold Medalists at the Qoros 2015 World Championships:

Men’s Singles: MA Long (CHN)
Women’s Singles: DING Ning (CHN)
Men’s Doubles: ZHANG Jike / XU Xin (CHN)
Women’s Doubles: LIU Shiwen / ZHU Yuling (CHN)
Mixed Doubles: XU Xin (CHN) / YANG Haeun (KOR)

#ITTFWorlds2015 Statistics:

Total unique viewership on CCTV yesterday (2 May 2015): 99,027,000 which is the 6th highest rating sports show on CCTV in 2015

Total viewership between 27 April – 2 May: 223,332,000

Total unique people have seen content on ITTF’s facebook page between 26 April – 2 May: 2,373,752

Total unique people who have visited ITTF’s website between 26 April – 2 May: 8,560,318

With the perfect closing of the Qoros 2015 World Team Table Tennis Championships, the 54th edition of the World Championships will be staged in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in February 201

Japan Makes 1st World Championships Mixed Double Final Since 1977

The fifth day of the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships concluded with the Japanese mixed doubles duo Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Maharu YOSHIMURA becomingJapan’s first mixed doubles finalists since 1977.

The Japanese pair ended the defending championsKIM Jong and KIM Hyok Bong from North Korea to becomehopes of defending their title they won two years ago in Paris 4-2 (11-8, 5-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7, 11-4) to guarantee at least a silver medal for Japan in Suzhou.

ISHIKAWA and YOSHIMURA will face mixed nations pair XU Xin (CHN) and YANG Haeun (KOR) tomorrow night in the final battle for the title.

The victory boosted the Japanese team spirit after suffering two days of upsets and defeats since the commencement of the main draws, a confident ISHIKAWA shared: “Our goal is to perform our own ability, and we have confidence to play in our own level.”

While being successful in the mixed doubles event, number five seed ISHIKAWA fell in the hands of the unseeded MU Zi from the host country, being outclassed 0-4 (7-11, 10-12, 10-12, 4-11) in the round of 32.

Team Japan embrase after making the mixed doubles final. Photo credit: Remy Gros

ISHIKAWA was not the only defeat suffered by the Japanese team, her colleagues in the men’s doubles, Masataka MORIZONO and Yuya OSHIMA, joined her on the Japanese casualty list of the day.

MORIZONO and OSHIMA came so close to the biggest upset in Suzhou against the tournament hot favorites, XU Xin and ZHANG Jike (CHN). Despite having two match points, ZHANG & XU were too good in the end winning 4-3 (9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10) to advance to the semifinals of the Men’s Doubles event.

Jun MIZUTANI (JPN), on the other hand, narrowly escape elimination scares from JUNG Youngsik (KOR), to keep the Japanese singles dream alive in Suzhou. The pair engaged in an epic 7-games thriller, with MIZUTANI claiming victory 4-3 (4-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 10-12, 11-9, 13-11).

In the other Men’s Singles round of 32 matches, Patrick FRANZISKA (GER) and Timo BOLL (GER) faced Portugal’s Marcos FREITAS and Joao MONTEIRO respectively to spark off an all-European battle.

56th in the world, FRANZISKA pulled off an amazing performance to upset FREITAS, a player he has never won a game against before 4-1 (13-11, 11-7, 12-10, 5-11, 11-6) to continue his quest for gold.

BOLL however faced tough challenge from FREITAS’s teammate MONTEIRO on his way to the round of 16. The 7th ranked German was pushed into a full-length battle against MONTEIRO. The 34 year old eventually won 4-3 (11-5, 7-11, 10-12, 14-12, 11-7, 3-11, 12-10).

Tomorrow sees the round of 16 of the men’s and women’s singles and the mixed doubles final.

Ovtcharov & Fukuhara Crash Out Of ITTF World Table Tennis Championships

The fourth day of the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships ended, in dramatic fashion, with two of the biggest names of in table tennis crashing out of the competition in the second round.

World ranked six, Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER), one of the favourites for the title suffered a surprise 3-4 (11-6,11-9,4-11,8-11,11-6,3-11,11-6) defeat against the number 36th seed LEE Sangsu (KOR), bidding goodbye to his World Championship title.

MARCOS FREITAS, 2015 ITTF World Championships. photo credit ITTF Media

After his loss, OVTCHAROV, who beat the World and Olympic champion ZHANG Jike at the 2014 World Team Championships was devastated after the lost: “Of course I am extremely disappointed, I prepared every second for this event and to be knocked out in the second round is disappointing for me. He surprised me today to be so fast and aggressive from the very beginning. I wasn’t expecting it, and I was most surprised by his level. It was tough for me to get the flow and come back after trailing behind 0-2, 2-3 in the match.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, LEE was celebrating his best ever win: “I believed. I believed. I believed I could win. So happy that I did to record the biggest win of my career against one the best players in the world.”

In the Women’s Singles event, number eight seeded Japanese Superstar Ai FUKUHARA became the biggest casualty after losing to Tetyana BILENKO (UKR), 55 positions after her on the ITTF World Rankings.

FUKUHARA was unable to keep up to the momentum of her opponent, losing 2-4 (11-3, 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 3-11, 10-12) to the 31 year old Ukrainian.

“I am sad about my overall performance, I should have been more aggressive. I lost points and became a little bit passive with my tactics. I can’t believe my singles event is over so quickly” shared FUKUHARA after her match.

Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, 2015 ITTF World Championships, photo credit ITTF Media

The 26 year old Japanese was not the only loss suffered by the Japanese team. Sayaka HIRANO who part of the Japanese team that won the silver meal at the London 2012 Olympics with FUKUHARA, was shocked by unseeded qualifier Hana MATELOVA from Czech Republic.

In the mixed doubles’ quarterfinals, defending champions KIM Hyok Bong and KIM Jong from North Korea overcame the Chinese pairing of WU Yang and YAN An in a thrilling 7 set encounter 5-11,11-8,11-8,4-11,11-6,7-11,11-7. The number one seeds now face the Japanese due of Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Maharu YOSHIMURA, who were also successful in their quarter final clash.

More excitement can be expected tomorrow in Suzhou, with the quarterfinals of the doubles events getting underway and more singles action.

Toriola, Quadri Bow Out In First Round, As Tie Against World Champion Excites Oshonaike

Despite the exit of Segun Toriola and Aruna Quadri in the first round of the men’s singles at the ongoing ITTF World Championship, Olufunke Oshonaike has described the experience in China as the best by a Nigerian team in an individual world championships.

Toriola in his usual style fought well against Chinese’s Sheng-Sheng Huang recovering from 3-0 down to level up at 3-3 and finally surrendering the seventh game to bow out gallantly from the tournament.

But the biggest shock for Nigeria was the early exit of ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri who was beaten 4-1 by India’s Soumyajit Ghosh in the first round of the men’s singles.

The defeat to Quadri could not even be comprehended by the Nigerian who blamed his loss to ill-luck against the Indian.

But the Indian knew the importance of the win saying that “I am happy beating Aruna in a big stage like the world championships.”

Even as Oshonaike marked her birthday on Tuesday, she probally enjoyed herself in China despite losing 4-0 to world number, China’s Ning Ding.

Funke Oshonaike vs Ning Ding
QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships,

Oshonaike described the encounter as the best moment in her career especially playing against the world number one. “I think I just had fun during the match and for me I am not too happy that I was drawn against Ning but it is indeed a rare privilege to play a player of her status. I am fulfilled with my performance in China because I made the first round for the first time since I have been taking part in the world championship,” she said.

Also the partnership between Oshonaike and Cameroun’s Sarah Hanffou proved worthy as they bundled out Africa’s women’s doubles champion, Egypt’s Dina Meshref and Nadeen El-Dawatly 4-1 in the first round of the women’s doubles event.

It is indeed a United States of Africa in Suzhou, China.

Main Draw About To Begin At ITTF World Championships

The qualification rounds of the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships concluded today, 27 April, to finalise all 128 positions in the main draws for the Men’s and Women’s Singles as well as the Men’s and Women’s Doubles events.

The only unseeded player from the Chinese team, MU Zi, cruised pass the both days of qualifications without dropping a single game, to join the rest of her teammates in the main draw in front of her home crowd.

Funke Oshonaike. QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships,26 Apr 2015 – 03 May 2015, Suzhou, CHN photo credit ITTF Media

Nigeria’s Olufunke OSHONAIKE had the crowd on their feet with her amazing performances which saw her advance to the Women’s Singles main draw. As a reward the Nigerian mother of two will play against top seeded DING Ning (CHN) tomorrow morning in the first round of the main draw.

ZHANG Jike (CHN) will start his quest to win his third World Championships title in a row against Romania’s Ovidiu IONESCU and Li Xiaoxia starts her title defense against HWANG Jina (KOR).

The first round of the mixed doubles event already got underway today as well in the evening, with capacity crowd cheering on the players in the action packed hall.

The host nation’s mixed doubles pair of WU Yang / YAN An survived an elimination scare when 68th seeded Ruta PASKAUSKIENE (LTU) & Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC (SRB) came back from 0-2 down to tie at 3-3, and trailing tightly behind. WU / YAN eventually escaped narrowly to make it to the next round.

KARAKASEVIC was understandably disappointed to come so close to the biggest upset of the event so far: “At 4-4 and 5-5 in the seventh game, if we could have gained a lead then I think they would have been afraid but we didn’t and that’s sport; at the moment I’m really disappointed, I think this was our big chance to win a medal at the World Championships!”

More action will begin tomorrow morning with ALL 8 tables streaming LIVE on ITTF.com/itTV and broadcast in 169 countries around the world. Live scoring can also be followed on the go at ITTF.com/Mobile!

2015 ITTF World Championships: Oshonaike Makes First Round, Battles World Champion

Nigeria’s Olufunke Oshonaike has been handed the biggest task of her career after been drawn in the first round against world number one female player and world champion, Ning Ding in the ongoing 2015 ITTF World Championships holding at the Suzhou International Expo Centre in China.

Oshonaike made it to the main draw in China, after playing the game of her life to become one of the unseeded players that qualified into the main draw of the championship.

To berth in the main draw, Oshonaike defeated players from Costa Rica, Mexico and Tunisia while her toughest challenge was against Tunisia’s Safa Saidani, whom she played 4-3 against.

As long as Oshonaike was happy about her performance but she will confront another big hurdle when she faces home favourite and world champion, China’s Ning Ding in her first round match on the centre table by 6am Nigerian time.

Segun Toriola, ITTF. QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships,26 Apr 2015 – 03 May 2015, Suzhou, CHN. photo credit ITTF Media

Kazeem Makanjuola failed to advance to the main draw after losing his second group match 4-3 to Argentina’s Pablo Tabachnik.

Africa’s most decorated player, Segun Toriola was in his fine form when he defeated Switzerland’s WEBER Lionel 4-3 to book his place in the main draw. Toriola had won his two group matches against players from Algeria and Qatar.

The former African champion will tackle Chinese Taipei’s Sheng-Sheng Huang while Aruna Quadri will battle India’s Soumyajit Ghosh.

Also Egyptian players led by Omar Assar will also be in action with Assar tackling Singapore’s Clarence Zhe Yu Chew, El-Sayed Lashin will face Germany’s Patrick Franziska while Mohammed El-Beiali will battle Austria’s Daniel Habesohn.

Meanwhile Nigeria’s duo of Toriola and Oshonaike were shown the exit in the mixed doubles by Netherlands.

2015 ITTF World Championships: Nigerian Players Off To Good Start In China

Despite the lack of support from the country they represent and inspired by the hard-earned money they used to sponsor themselves to the 2015 ITTF World Championships in China, Nigerian players began their campaigns in the singles events on a bright note.

While the presence of the President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi in Suzhou may have spurred the trio of Segun Toriola, Kazeem Makanjuola and Olufunke Oshonaike to give their best against their opponents in the group matches of the tournament, which has over 100 countries competing in five events at the global competition.

It was Makanjuola who opened the doors for others to follow as he wasted no time in dismissing Maldives’ Moosa Ahmed 11-2, 11-9, 15-13, 11-8 in the first group match. Toriola, who is still a delight to watch for all at the Suzhou International Expo Centre took a cue from Makanjuola when he ran riot over Algeria’s Aissa Belkadi with 11-7, 11-5, 11-3, 11-7 win.

However, Oshonaike proved that experience is still relevant as she beat Costa Rica’s Cynthia Martinez 4-0 as well as pummeling Mexico’s MADRID Mercedes with same margin to put herself in stable position to make it to the main draw.

With her last game holding on Monday April 27 against Tunisia’s SAIDANI Safa to decide the only player in the group that will progress from the group.

Makanjuola Kazeem

Also on Monday, Makanjuola will have a date with Argentina’s TABACHNIK Pablo while Toriola will battle Qatar’s ABDULHUSSEIN Mohammed for the sole spot in the group.

It was united states of Africa in the women’s doubles as Oshonaike has accepted to partner former African champion, Cameroun’s Sarah Hanffou to compete in the event.

Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri who is the second seeded African players in the main draw will begin his campaign on Tuesday April 28 against qualifiers from the group stage.

Meanwhile, Egyptian players also recorded victories in their matches with Mohammed El-Beiali and Khalid Assar winning their group matches, while Omar Assar will also compete from the main draw on Tuesday.

ITTF lists Nigeria, others for World Championships in China

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has confirmed Nigeria and 99 others for the World Championships in the Chinese city of Suzhou, China, serving off on April 26 to May 3.

A total of 310 men and 238 women players will compete at the eight-day event with capacity crowd anticipated.
Also three African players have been listed among the seeded players for the tournament with Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri topping the list of players seeded from the continent and he is seeded 30.

Also seeded from Africa in the men’s singles is Egypt’s Omar Assar ranked 32 for the tournament while the only female player in Africa seeded is Egypt’s Dina Meshref listed in number 62 for the competition.

In the list of Nigerian players confirmed for the championship, Quadri will be joined in the men’s singles by Segun Toriola, Ojo Onaolapo and Kazeem Makanjuola, while in the women’s team, Edem Offiong, Janet Effiom and Germany-based Funke Oshonaike.

According to the world table tennis ruling body, the seeding is based on the World Ranking lists released on Wednesday April 1.

China’s Ma Long heads the Men’s Singles order of merit, being followed by his three compatriots Xu Xin, Zhang Jike, and Fan Zhendong. The third on the list but if one player enjoys the big stage it is Zhang Jike, the Men’s Singles winner in Rotterdam in 2011 and two years ago in Paris.

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

Both Ma Long and Xu Xin have occupied the top spot on the Men’s World Rankings during the past year and more but in a World Championships Men’s Singles event, they have to rise to the levels of which they are undoubtedly capable.

The third seeded position in the Men’s Singles seeding for the reigning champion; it is the same in the Women’s Singles event for China’s Li Xiaoxia, the winner two years ago in Paris. She is named behind compatriots Ding Ning, the champion in Rotterdam in 2011 and Liu Shiwen, the player Li Xiaoxia beat two years ago in the Paris final.

In the doubles event, the draw involving the top 16 seeds will take place at 2.30pm (local time) on Saturday April 25 at the Suzhou Cultural and Art Center.

Assar Tops Quadri In ITTF World Tour Standings

For winning the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour, Lagos Open title at the weekend, Egypt’s Omar Assar occupies number 11 in the ITTF World Tour Men’s Standings released by the world table tennis ruling body.

The Egyptian who clinched his second title in Lagos has amassed 125 points from the two World Tours he has attended this year to top Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri, who also made the list of top 20 players in the singles standings.

However, Quadri partnership with Kazeem Makanjuola made it to the top 10 of the men’s doubles in the standing following their triumph at the Lagos Open over the weekend.

In the list of eligible players for the end-of-the-year World Tour Finals, Egypt’s Assar is the highest listed African player in the standing. Assar is placed at number 11, alongside Austria’s Robert Gardos with same points.

This year, Quadri has attended three World Tours, as he is placed at 17 with 75 points in the singles, while the victory recorded in his partnership with Makanjuola in the men’s doubles as placed them in number nine globally.

To be listed among the elite names in the world, Assar has made two appearances, the previous one being in Kuwait when he was beaten in the first round by China’s Fan Zhendong.

Egypt’s Omar Assar and Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri during the presentation for the men’s singles final won by the Egyptian at the just concluded ITTF World Tour, Lagos Open at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium at the weekend

Nigeria’s Kazeem Makanjuola and Aruna Quadri with Portugal’s Diogo Silva and Andre Silva during the presentation for the men’s doubles final won by Nigeria at the just concluded ITTF World Tour, Lagos Open at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium at the weekend.

Aruna is at no.17 with 75 points, being level with Korea’s Cho Eonrae, Jeong Samgeun and Kim Minseok, in addition to Poland’s Daniel Gorak and Hong Kong’s Tang Peng.

Belarus’ Vladimir Samsonov continues to lead with 525 points and closely followed by China’s Ma Long, who has 500 points.

Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan is in third place with 300 points; a position he shares with Portugal’s Marcos Freitas, Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov and China’s Xu Xin.

Also, women’s singles champion at the Lagos Open, Portugal’s Shao Jieni established her name in the Women’s Singles Standings. She is at no.16 with 100 points); a position she shares with Korea’s Jeon Jihee, Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching, Japan’s Misako Wakamiya and Germany’s Wu Jiaduo in addition to the Chinese duo of Chen Meng and Wu Yang.

Lagos Open’s runner’s up, Egypt’s Dina Meshref is now at no.31 on the Standings (50 points), a position she shares with the Chinese Taipei’s Chen Szu-Yu and Cheng I-Ching as well as with Turkey’s Hu Melek, Monaco’s Yang Xiaoxin and Singapore’s Yu Mengyu.

Portugal’s Shao Jieni and Egypt’s Dina Meshref with Nigeria’s Edem Offiong and Cecilia Akpan during the presentation for the women’s doubles final at the just concluded ITTF World Tour, Lagos Open at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium at the weekend

However, on the Under 21 Women’s Singles Standings, Meshref is very much amongst the leading names, as she is with Jieni on the Women’s Doubles listings, the pair being crowned champions in Lagos.

On the Under 21 Women’s Singles Standings, Meshref is at no.7 (200 points); on the Women’s Doubles order of merit, with Jieni, she is at no.12 (100 points).

Meanwhile, Aruna and Makanjuola are now listed at no.9 on the Men’s Doubles Standings with 100 points, with the combination of Portugal’s Marcos Freitas and Croatia’s Andrej Gacina (550 points) topping the standing.

A first appearance of the year for Quadri and Makunjuola, as a Men’s Doubles partnership; it was also the same scenario for Egypt’s Shady Magdy, the winner of the Under 21 Men’s Singles title in Lagos.

Organisers Hike Prize money For Lagos ITTF World Tour

To attract more world class players to this year’s International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour tagged Lagos Open, the organizers have hiked the prize money from $39,000 (N7.8m) to $46,000 (N9.2m).

Also, the events to be competed fro have been increased to six from four. For this year’s tournament, players will compete in singles (men and women), doubles (men and women) as well as U-21 boys and girls.

The five-day competition will take place at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun in Lagos and it will serve off on March 10 to 14.

The ITTF ranking event will help players taking part amass points for their world rating in March

According to the prospectus released by ITTF on its website, Egypt’s Nabil Almamoon and Algeria’s Mounir Bessah have been named the referee and competition manager respectively while Nigeria’s Lajide Oluranti is the tournament director.

More players from Africa and Europe have also signified their intention to be part of the championship, which has been entrenched in the ITTF calendar.
Also, the current ITTF Star Player, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Africa’s most decorated table tennis player, Segun Toriola have confirmed their participation in the tournament while home-based stars like Kazeem Makanjuola, Hameed Adeyinka and Rashidat Ogundele will also be part of the competition.

Plans are in top gear by the organizers to stage a befitting tournament just like it has done in the two previous editions, which were adjudged one of the best organized Pro Tours in the ITTF calendar.

ITTF Africa Senior Championships: Nigeria, Egypt In Team Event Finals

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.

Omar Assar

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.

Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri

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.