Nigeria has been confirmed among the 40 men’s and women’s teams that will compete at the 2022 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in Chengdu, China from 30 September to 9 October 2022.
With exactly 100 days to go to the event, the list of entries for the upcoming has been unveiled by the world table tennis ruling body.
Being one of the top teams in Africa, Nigeria’s men’s team will represent Africa at the global tournament alongside Egypt, Algeria, Togo, and Tunisia while Nigeria’s women’s team will compete along with Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritius, and Algeria.
In a statement issued by ITTF, the Chinese Table Tennis Association, and the City of Chengdu authorities are working hard to give the players the opportunity to compete in the best and safest conditions.
“The 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals Preparatory Committee has worked on extensive COVID-19 countermeasures to ensure all participants arrive smoothly, participate securely, and return safely. The event will be put under strict closed-loop management in a bubble format,” the statement stated.
ITTF President Petra Sörling said: “With just 100 days to go until the 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals, all eyes are on Chengdu, and we cannot wait to witness a breath-taking competition. As we are about to accelerate the preparations, I am grateful to our hosts, who have taken every necessary measure to ensure the successful delivery of our marquee event.”
The 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan, South Korea was cancelled; it has been four years since the team event was last held. The Chinese teams took gold in the men’s and women’s events in Halmstad, Sweden, in 2018. Playing on home soil this year, Team China will be the favourite.
The 40 men’s and women’s teams will be vying for one of the sport’s most coveted titles. The teams will be divided into eight groups. Each group of five teams will play a complete round-robin competition. Then, a final knock-out phase will be played with the winners of each group and the teams placing second.