THREE of the top para table tennis playing nations in Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa will lead five other countries in Africa to the maiden Valuejet Para Table Tennis Open which serves off on December 19 to 21 at Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
Other nations joining Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa at the three-day N10.8m prize money tournament are Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana.
Apart from the internet sensation, Ibrahim Hamato, Egypt will have in their fold, Africa’s para table tennis record holder, Mohamed Sameh Eid Saleh, who will be attending his fifth Paralympic Games at Tokyo 2020 in Japan.
According to the Chairman, of Para Table Tennis in the board of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Elderson Bankole, the tournament would help Nigeria on the world map while it would also afford the players to test their might against their counterparts in Africa.
Already, five Nigerians have qualified in the para table tennis event of Tokyo 2020 and Bankole believes with the staging of the championship, more players would be unearthed for the country.
Leave a Reply