Nigeria’s Animasahun Finishes Second At ITTF Hopes Challenge In China

Twelve year-old Abayomi Animasahun once again made Nigeria proud in far away Shanghai, China when he defied all odds to finish second in the boys’ singles of the 2015 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Hopes Challenge.

Animasahun, who has continued to compliment his feat at his first international competition at the Egypt Junior Open in June when he won the U-12 boys’ singles while he also finished among the top eight at the China Junior Open last week was the toast of ITTF officials who described the Ekiti State-born player as Africa’s prospect in the sport.

From the group stage, Animasahun made nonsense of some of the highly-rated players from Netherlands and Thailand to settle for second place having lost to United States’ Nikhil Kumar in one of the three matches in the preliminary round. But for placing second, he joined the American boy to qualify for the semifinal stage.

In the quarterfinal match, he continued his fine-form when he overcame New Zealand’s Nathan Xu 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5) to set up a semifinal tie against Belgium’s Adrian Rassefosse which he won. He finally set up a rematch against the American boy who had earlier defeated him in the group stage.

Nigeria’s Abayomi Animasahun (second left) during the medal presentation at the 2015 ITTF Hopes Challenge in Shanghai, China at the weekend.

However, what befell Animasahun happened again in the final match as the American won the match at 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 to be crowned the boys’ champion.

But the performance of the young Nigerian attracted accolades from ITTF Education and Training Coordinator, Dejan Papic.

Animasahun attracted a lot of attention, first he managed to outlast Nathan Xu of New Zealandin long top spin exchanges. The surprise victory made him hot, he moved better in the semifinal against Belgium’s Adrian Rassefosse and played with increased confidence. But in final, he ran out of steam and American Kumar played better in each game. It seemed the fact that Kumar being a left hander was one of the deciding factors,” Papic said.

In the girls’ singles, it was Egypt’s Sara Elhakem emerged winner after beating Germany’s Sophie Kee in the final.

Animasahun’s compatriot, Muibat Bello failed to make it to the podium having finished in the eighth among the 16 players that competed in the event.

Nigerian Teenagers For ITTF Hopes Week In China

In Nigeria, the profile of Abayomi Animasahun and Muibat Bello has continued to soar and this has also made them benefit from various initiatives put together by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF).

Participants at the 2014 ITTF Hopes Week photo credit ITTF Media

Now the teenagers have been named as Nigeria’s representatives at the ITTF Hopes Week holding in Shanghai, China later this month.

Also two of Nigeria’s greatest players, Segun Toriola and Funke Oshonaike will accompany the players to the training exercise.

An elated Animasahun who is taking part in the ITTF WJC in Egypt cannot hide his excitement about the trip said, “I am glad that I will be heading to China for the Hopes Week meet too. I am happy at this opportunity given to me by NTTF to meet the best young players like me from around the world”.

“I have overcome my fears of challenging the white skinned players. I used to think that I could not play against them. The Egypt Junior and Cadet Open has helped me to improve my confidence level and this will boast my chances in China,’’ he added.

ANIMASHAUN Abayomi- Nigeria

In the mini-cadet event that Animasahun is campaigning in Egypt, he said: “I am targeting a gold medal in the singles, irrespective of players i am going to play against in the competition.”

Not knowing what lies ahead of them in China and like Animasahun, Muibat Bello is targeting the title in the competition aspect of the Hopes Week. I am eyeing a gold medal in the girls’ singles and i will ensure I do my best. I know it will be a tough one because of what I have heard and read about the Chinese players. I am going to watch out for them,” she said.

On the choice of Animasahun and Bello, NTTF President, Wahid Oshodi said: “They have been maintaining superb performances at national level and we will continue to assist them to improve their skills. And of course they need to attend more tournaments of this nature as we need to expose our young players promptly to the rigours of world-class tournaments’ style of play,” he added.

The ITTF Hopes Week holds in Shanghai, China from June 23 to July 5.

LIVE STREAM OF DOHA AND SHANGHAI PRESS CONFERENCES TO LAUNCH 2015 IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE

The 2015 IAAF Diamond League gets underway this week with Doha (15) and Shanghai (17) playing host to the first two meetings in the series.

The dual nature of this season’s launch means that all 32 Diamond Race disciplines will be contested this week between the two Asian legs of the IAAF Diamond League. The series will then continue later this month with the remaining 12 fixtures divided between the USA and various European countries.

Press conferences from both Doha and Shanghai – featuring a selection of the top athletes set to compete this week – will be streamed live on the IAAF Diamond League website the day before each competition.

Doha press conference
14 May 11:30 local time (GMT +3)

IAAF President Lamine Diack, Asian Athletics President Dahlan Al Hamad and Qatar Athletics Federation General Secretary Mohamed Jassem Al Kuwari will be joined by double world and Olympic champion Mo Farah, Olympic 200m champion Allyson Felix, Olympic 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson and Asian Games sprint champion Femi Ogunode.

LIVE STREAM OF DOHA AND SHANGHAI PRESS CONFERENCES TO LAUNCH 2015 IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE photo credit IAAF/ © Errol Anderson

Shanghai press conference
16 May 14:00 local time (GMT +8)

Meeting director Jos Hermens will be joined by world 110m hurdles champion David Oliver, Olympic 110m hurdles champion Aries Merritt, Asian Games 110m hurdles champion Xie Wenjun and double world sprint champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Both press conferences will be streamed on this page of the IAAF Diamond League website. The streams will begin a few minutes before the start time of each conference.

2015 IAAF Diamond League calendar

Doha, QAT – 15 May
Shanghai, CHN – 17 May
Eugene, USA – 30 May
Rome, ITA – 4 June
Birmingham, GBR – 7 June
Oslo, NOR – 11 June
New York, USA – 13 June
Paris, FRA – 4 July
Lausanne, SUI – 9 July
Monaco, MON – 17 July
London, GBR – 24-25 July
Stockholm, SWE – 30 July
Zurich, SUI – 3 September
Brussels, BEL – 11 September

2015 IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE – FANTASY DIAMOND RACE STARTS AGAIN

With just three days to go before the start of the 2015 IAAF Diamond League, the excitement is already starting to mount and the traditional opening meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha has already assembled some of the sport’s top stars to get proceedings underway for the sixth year of the series on Friday (15).

Mohammed Aman, Asbel Kiprop, Mo Farah, Christian Taylor, Allyson Felix, Sanya Richards-Ross, Sifan Hassan and Sandra Perkovic are just some of the sport’s star names that will be competing in Doha.

The likes of Kirani James, Jairus Birech, David Oliver, Mutaz Essa Barshim, Eunice Sum, Caterine Ibarguen and Yarisley Silva will be in action in Shanghai just two days later on Sunday (17).

2015 IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE – FANTASY DIAMOND RACE STARTS AGAIN credit IAAF

The IAAF is also happy to announce the return of IAAF Fantasy Athletics.

The 2015 edition of the Fantasy Diamond Race is similar to last year and follows the athletes who compete in the 32 event disciplines of the Diamond Race at the 14 meetings of the IAAF Diamond League in 2015.

This provides players with the chance to compare their athletics knowledge against fellow track and field fans from around the world via the overall leader board, and players can also set up private leagues with their friends and colleagues.

Players have to identify nine athletes at each IAAF Diamond League meeting who they think will place highest in their events and, just as with the real Diamond Race itself, points are then awarded to those finishing in the podium positions.

There are unique prizes for those players whose teams have the highest scores at each of the 14 meetings, and for the season winner who accumulates the best overall points score across all meetings

Select your provisional team

The provisional entry lists for the opening meetings in Doha and Shanghai are now available, but it is recommended that players keep checking the start lists as changes sometimes occur and corrections can be made up to the start of a meeting.

Click here to login or register for the 2015 Fantasy Diamond Race

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The IAAF Diamond League is composed of 14 of the best invitational track and field meetings in the world. The meetings are spread across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the USA, and compose the top tier of the IAAF’s global one-day meeting competition structure.

This series of 14 meetings, which began in 2010, showcases 32 event disciplines which are carefully distributed among the meetings.

In each discipline, there is a Diamond Race with points available throughout the 14-meeting season. Winners of each Diamond Race receive a USD$40,000 cash prize and a spectacular Diamond Trophy.

IAAF

2015 IAAF Diamond League calendar

Doha, QAT – 15 May
Shanghai, CHN – 17 May
Eugene, USA – 30 May
Rome, ITA – 4 June
Birmingham, GBR – 7 June
Oslo, NOR – 11 June
New York, USA – 13 June
Paris, FRA – 4 July
Lausanne, SUI – 9 July
Monaco, MON – 17 July
London, GBR – 24-25 July
Stockholm, SWE – 30 July
Zurich, SUI – 3 September
Brussels, BEL – 11 September

2015 IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE – MONEY, POINTS, STATISTICS

The 2015 edition of the IAAF Diamond League gets underway on Friday in Doha (15) and is swiftly followed by a meeting in Shanghai on Sunday (17), providing an outstanding curtain-raiser to this year’s series.

Once again, the series of 14 meetings are each offering USD$480,000 in prize money and the IAAF Diamond League showcases 32 event disciplines which are carefully distributed amongst the meetings.

Combining the individual meeting prize money with the Diamond Race cash, and the IAAF Diamond League is offering a total of USD$8 million in prize money in 2015.

WOMEN’S INTERCONTINENTAL TOURNAMENT KICK-OFF IN AUCKLAND

At the conclusion of the European preliminaries, the 2015 Intercontinental Tournament kicked-off in Auckland (NZL) from April 28-May 3 and will select the five remaining teams for the Super Final of the FINA Women’s Water Polo World League, to be played in Shanghai (CHN), on June 9-14.

On Day 2, reigning champion United States of America overcame 2013 champion China 8-2 at West Wave Aquatic Centre.

In the Group A match, USA needed a six-goal burst in the final six minutes to break a 2-2 deadlock that had the multiple champion team scoreless for the previous 20 minutes of play. It also meant a second straight win.

Brazil and Kazakhstan battled hard in their encounter with Brazil coming back to level the match five times for 8-8 at fulltime, only to lose the shootout 12-11 to a joyful Kazakhstan.

In Group B, Canada displayed tremendous flair and skill in registering its second victory, but not before Japan refused to be subdued. Canada won 15-13 despite a three-goal finish by Japan. Australia rounded out the evening with a 10-2 margin over New Zealand.

At the end of the tournament, the highest-ranked four teams will secure a spot to join the best teams from the European qualification phase – Italy, Netherlands, Spain – in the fight for top honours at the FINA Women’s World League Super Final. China is automatically qualified as host country.

DAILY REPORTS AND RESULTS ON FINA.ORG

IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE – DOHA AND SHANGHAI SET TO PROVIDE THRILLING START

There are just three weeks to go to the start of the 2015 IAAF Diamond League, with meetings in Doha and Shanghai getting the ball rolling and taking place just two days apart on 15 and 17 May respectively.

The start of this year’s series has a strong Asian emphasis, with the opening two meetings taking place on opposite sides of that continent, a theme that will continue all the way to the end of the summer with the focal point of the year being the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015.

However, both meetings have signed up a plethora of the sport’s top performers from around the world to continue giving the IAAF Diamond League a truly global appeal.

World Athlete of the Year Renaud Lavillenie will start his campaign for his sixth successive Diamond Race crown in Doha while Shanghai can boast of high jump star Mutaz Essa Barshim.

The Doha meeting has got as its target a wholesale revision of its meeting records while Shanghai should see an outstanding duel over one lap of the track between LaShawn Merritt and Kirani James.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) at Brussels, Memorial Van Damme,
photo credit: Arian Zwegers
https://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/14514025337/in/photolist-o7yb5a-npwzJ6-gyymBu-f5Lfvq-f5vF22-f5vBMH-f5vR4v-f5vTwv-f5vX2p-f5L893-f5KSMy-f5LgNq-f5w3vZ-f5vQh6-f5L4DY-f5w38e-f5vVSk-f5LaiW-f5vDiB-f5w2AZ-f5vMw8-f5w3XD-f5LdD3-f5vEdg-f5KV1u-f5LeEQ-cbpA1Q-cbpzHb

Speed will be a virtue in Shanghai with 2013 IAAF World Athlete of the Year Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce going to her blocks in the Chinese city but distance running in Doha will be to the fore and double Olympic, world and European champion Mo Farah will run over 3000m in the Qatari capital and the Briton could be looking to add the European 3000m record to his impressive list of accolades.

The IAAF Diamond League meetings in Doha and Shanghai will also be the first two meetings in the 2015 edition of the popular Fantasy Diamond Race.

IAAF

2015 IAAF Diamond League calendar
Doha, QAT – 15 May
Shanghai, CHN – 17 May
Eugene, USA – 30 May
Rome, ITA – 4 June
Birmingham, GBR – 7 June
Oslo, NOR – 11 June
New York, USA – 13 June
Paris, FRA – 4 July
Lausanne, SUI – 9 July
Monaco, MON – 17 July
London, GBR – 24-25 July
Stockholm, SWE – 30 July
Zurich, SUI – 3 September
Brussels, BEL – 11 September

38 Youth Olympic Games Players Line up at World Junior Championships

The most important international junior table tennis event of the year, the Wisdom 2014 World Junior Table Tennis Championships, has kicked off today in Shanghai, China.

The prestigious event, sees 192 players from 41 countries battle for the 7 gold medals on offer: boy’s and girl’s team, boy’s and girl’s singles, boy’s and girl’s doubles, and mixed doubles over the next 8 days.

ITTF

For 38 of these players, high-level competition is no stranger for them, as they competed in the 2014 Youth Olympic Games earlier in the year just down the road in Nanjing, China.

Within these 38 players, are five out of the six singles medalists, with only the men’s singles Champion FAN Zhendong (CHN) missing from the stellar field of under 18 year olds.

18 year old Lily ZHANG (USA), who created history at the Youth Olympic Games by winning bronze, which was the first ever table tennis (Youth) Olympic medal for a North American country will be playing in her last ever junior event here in Shanghai.

ZHANG, who was one of the stars in the recently released Top Spin documentary stated:

Lily Zhang is looking to add another medal to her 2014 collection here in Shanghai.
Photo credit: ITTF/Remy Gros

“Winning a medal in Nanjing was my goal and my dream, and achieving it has given me a lot of confidence and allowed me to set higher goals for myself in the future.”

“One of these goals is to win a medal in both the teams and singles events here, which I believe I have a good chance. I just need to fight, and have a bit of luck and hopefully I will be making more history, by winning the first World Junior Championships medal for a North American country.”

The gold and silver medalists at the Youth Olympic Games, LIU Gaoyang (CHN) and DOO Hoi Kem (HKG), will again be the favorites in the girl’s singles to add more medals to their 2014 collection next Sunday.

The silver medalist in Nanjing, defender Yuto MURAMATSU (JPN) has had a stellar year, and not just at the ITTF Junior events. The 18 year old has also had some breakthrough results on the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour, and has qualified for the US$1,000,000 grand finals to be held in Bangkok, Thailand on 11-14 December 2014.

KIM Minhyeok (KOR) will be hoping to follow in 2013 boys singles champion JANG Woojin (KOR) and become Korea’s third World Junior Champion. Hugo CALDERANO (BRA) will be pushing both MURAMATSU and KIM to the limit in his quest to become the first World Junior Champion from Latin America.

To find out more about the event, including schedules, statistics, facts, bios and information on how the event works, download the ITTF World Junior Championships preview here: http://bit.ly/14WJTTCMedia.

Who will be the next ITTF World Junior Champion? Who will be the next player set on the road to stardom? Follow all the action from Shanghai, China through the below channels:

DIVING WORLD CUP 2014: TOP DIVERS TO SHINE IN SHANGHAI

Shanghai’s magnificent Oriental Sports Center, which hosted the 2011 FINA World Championships, will provide the backdrop to spectacular performances on July 15-20 during the 19th FINA Diving World Cup, which will gather the best divers in action, Olympic and World medallists from previous championships.

The six-day competition, held every two years, has nine events on the programme: women’s and men’s 3m springboard and 10m platform, individual and synchro. This year’s edition also features a Team Event.

WORLD CUP 2014: TOP DIVERS TO SHINE IN SHANGHAI

More on http://www.fina.org

IAAF Diamond League Calendar

The IAAF Diamond League is composed of 14 of the best invitational track and field meetings in the world. The meetings are spread across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the USA, and compose the top tier of the IAAF’s global one-day meeting competition structure.

This series of 14 meetings, which began in 2010, showcases 32 event disciplines which are carefully distributed amongst the meetings.

In each discipline, there is a Diamond Race with points available throughout the 14 meeting season. Winners of each Diamond Race receive a 40,000 USD cash prize and a spectacular Diamond Trophy.

2014 IAAF Diamond League calendar

Doha, QAT – 9 May

Shanghai, CHN – 18 May

Eugene, USA – 31 May

Rome, ITA – 5 Jun

Oslo, NOR – 11 Jun

New York, USA – 14 Jun

Lausanne, SUI – 3 Jul

Paris, FRA – 5 Jul

Glasgow, GBR – 11-12 Jul

Monaco, MON – 18 Jul

Stockholm, SWE – 21 Aug

Birmingham, GBR – 24 Aug

Zurich, SUI – 28 Aug

Brussels, BEL – 5 Sep