Toriola, Quadri, Ajetunmobi in good start at ITTF World Tour in Germany

Nigeria’s trio of Segun Toriola, Aruna Quadri and Seun Ajetunmobi began their campaigns at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)-sanctioned World Tour tagged German Open on good note on Wednesday with victories in their first matches at the five-day championship.

With over 290 players from 41 countries taking part in the championship holding in Magdeburg, Germany, Ajetunmobi inspired his compatriot early on Wednesday when he overcame homeboy – Germany’s Phillip Floritz in an explosive encounter that attracted the fans to table two.

From the start of the match, the German was confident that he was going to have a good run against the Nigerian and this came to past as he won the first two matches at 11-8, 11-5. But Ajetunmobi fought back to level up at 11-9, 11-9. The German again restored the lead with 1-5 win but as usual Ajetunmobi recovered to win the sixth game at 11-8. However, the final game was beyond the German as he fell 11-5 to Ajetunmobi to concede defeat to the Nigerian.

But Aruna was however, on easy lane as he whitewashed Italy’s Marco Rech Daldosso 13-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6 while like Ajetunmobi, Toriola did not have it easy against Russia’s Taras Merzlikin but he fought hard to beat the Russian 15-13, 8-11, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7.

To be certain of playing in the main draw, Ajetunmobi will play his last group match against Russia’s Alexey Liventsou, while Quadri will confront Japan’s Yuto Muramatsu on Thursday. Toriola will also battle Czech Republic’s Pavel Sirucek.

For the women’s singles pairing, Olaide Atinuke has been drawn in Group 22 alongside Slovakia’s Barbora Balazova and Hungary’s Dora Madarasz, while Ganiat Olatunde-Aruna will tackle Spain’s Galia Dvorak and Russia’s Elena Troshneva in Group 22.

Meanwhile, runner’s up at the 2010 edition in Berlin, China’s Wang Hao is the top seed in the men’s singles event at the tournament.
With the main draw expected to begin on Friday March 28, 30 year-old former world number one is no doubt approaching the twilight years of his international career, as the likes of Fan Zhendong and Yan An make their mark on the scene and press for places in the Chinese Men’s first team.

Like what Hao intends to achieve, Sweden’s Jan-Ove Waldner was 31 when he was crowned Men’s Singles World champion in Manchester in 1997; Werner Schlager was 30 years of age when he succeeded at the Liebherr World Championships in Paris in 2003.

In Germany, Hao will be seeking to add to the 13 already secured titles with the most recent being in Poland in November 2012.
The host nation’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Timo Boll are the respective second and third seeds. Ovtcharov won in 2012 in Berlin, while Boll is the most successful of all. He succeeded in 2004 in Leipzig, 2006 in Bayreuth and then in 2008 in Berlin and in 2009 in Bremen.

Table Tennis Road to Rio 2016 Starts in Baku

The road to the Table Tennis event at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games will start at the 2015 European Games in Baku, which will qualify one man and one woman, the winner of both singles events.

Table tennis made its debut in the Olympic Games in 1988 in Seoul and has been a regular and popular fixture ever since. After the successful London Games, table tennis was promoted in the IOC group review system with only eight Summer Olympic sports ahead of table tennis.

ITTF’s CEO Judit Farago stated: “Compared to the last system some changes were implemented to simplify the selection process, to make it easier to understand and to ensure that the best players participate at the Continental Qualification Tournament. From now on I am sure that most of the players focus on their dream, some of them to become Olympian first time in Rio, and for a few maybe one day to step in the footpath of the big trio, J-M. Saive, Z. Primorac, J. Persson who all made history by playing at seven Olympic Games between 1988 and 2012. ”

The 172 positions available in Rio, 86 for men and 86 for women, will be allocated over 12 months of intense qualification for the players to join table tennis folklore and become Olympians.

There will be four table tennis gold medals on offer at Rio 2016; men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s teams and women’s teams.

The men’s and women’s singles events will be contested by between 64 to 70 players, with a maximum of two per National Olympic Committee (NOC), which will be made up by the below qualification methods:

Zhang Jike (left) and Wang Hao (right) leads China to the Men’s Team title at London 2012 Olympic Games.

40 Continental qualification places with a maximum of two (2) athletes per NOC qualified. These 40 positions are composed of: 6 from Africa, 11 from Asia, 11 for Europe, 6 from Latin America, 3 for North America and 3 for Oceania

22 ITTF Olympic Singles Ranking, not to exceed an overall maximum of two (2) athletes per NOC

1 Tripartite Commission Invitation place

1 Host Country place

The 16 men’s and women’s teams are made up by three players per team. The highest ranked team from each continent (six teams) that has already two qualified players for the singles event secures direct qualification.

The remaining 10 positions are composed of the 9 highest ranked teams that have two players qualified for the singles. If less than 9 countries have two players already qualified, the next best teams with one player qualified secures their spot in Rio. The 10th team quota will be allocated to the host nation if not yet qualified through the team selection process.

It is up to the NOC to choose the additional player/players to join the singles players in the team event.

The table tennis event at Rio 2016 will be held in Riocentro, similar to the ExCel at London 2012 which is a big and open convention center, and hall three will be dedicated for table tennis, holding up to 6,000 people and creating an electric atmosphere.