Top table tennis playing nations including China, Korea Republic, Germany, India, Chinese Taipei will lead 19 others including host Nigeria to the first WTT Series in sub-Saharan Africa tagged WTT Contender Lagos between June 12 and 18 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Wahid Oshodi, said the tournament would afford the players to garner points for Paris 2024 Olympic Games as some of the top players in the world would storm Lagos this weekend.
others countries listed alongside host – Nigeria are Slovenia, Egypt, Slovakia, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Ukraine, Algeria, Belgium, Italy, France, England, Côte d’Ivoire, Serbia, Ghana, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Wales and Sweden,
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“Expect a fantastic tournament, great things to look forward to as some of the best players in the world with different styles including former world number one Dimitrij Ovtcharov coming to Lagos,” Oshodi, who is the Executive Vice President of International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) said .“When a non-Chinese player becomes number one in table tennis, you know how good he is while five of the top 20 players in the world are also joining him,” he said.
He however, lamented the absence of homeboy Quadri Aruna as club engagement stopped his participation from the tournament while hoping Taiwo Mati whose performance at the just concluded World Championships in Durban, South Africa, inspire more Nigerian players to aim high at the tournament
. “Today, we are talking about Taiwo Mati. Six years ago, he was an U15 player sitting here looking at the big players,” he said. “Now he has joined the top 32 in the world and he is now ranked 75th in the world. The most important thing is that there’s about 20 to 30 Mati in Nigeria.”
The preliminary round of the tournament begins on Monday June 12 while the main draw will kick off on Thursday June 15.