The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ITTF-Africa

  • Africa Top 16: Narrow escape for Toriola

    Experience came in handy for Segun Toriola in his narrow 3-2 win over Algeria’s Sami Kherouf in the group stage of the ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup holding in Nairobi, Kenya.

    Toriola had the better of the early exchanges, but had to rely heavy on his experience when the Algerian threatened at some point in the game to win 3-2 to the admiration of the Kenyan fans.

    “I am yet to understand the atmosphere in Nairobi because the high altitude is really affecting the balls. You cannot stroke the ball because it can go out so you just have to be careful whenever you are playing your strokes. I must confess that it has not been easy for any player in this competition because the altitude is affecting the movement of the ball, so you have to play with caution,” he admitted.

    The seven-time Olympian, however, commended his opponent, saying, “I could remember he gave me a tough time in Morocco last year but I am sure he knows that he met a strong Toriola today. I was really for him.  I am sure any player that wins the competition will count himself lucky because the altitude has worked against us.”

    However, Edem Offiong was not lucky against Algeria’s Lynda Logrhaibi as the former African champion fell 3-2 to the North African. Offiong struggled throughout the game as she made several unforced errors to give the Algerian a 2-0 but the Nigerian rallied back to level at 2-2.

    In the fifth game, Offiong started well but could not sustain the momentum as she lost 3-2 to the Algerian.

    An excited Logrhaibi told NationSport after her victory, “I thought that beating Edem will be an impossible task for me because I have never beaten her in our previous meetings. But today, I was calm and relaxed because I had nothing to lose if she defeated me.

    “I was just playing and enjoying myself. So beating Edem today is like defeating Oshonaike or Meshref because she is one the best players in Africa. I am so happy because this will motivate me in this competition,” Logrhaibi said.

  • IOC to confirm Oribamise, others for 2018 Youth Olympic Games

    IOC to confirm Oribamise, others for 2018 Youth Olympic Games

    Less than 24 hours after Nigeria’s Tosin Esther Oribamise and three others qualified for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will this week confirm the Nigerian star alongside others for the multi-sports tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

     

    According to ITTF Competition Manager, Mounir Bessah, the list of the African qualifiers would be forwarded to IOC today and the Olympic body is expected to confirm their qualifications from the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the players.

     

    “I will send Oribamise and three others names to IOC tomorrow (today) and hoping that IOC will then need to confirm their qualification based on the results recorded at the qualifiers in Tunis from their various NOC. It is after this that they will be registered formally by the world body. But I will need to send it to IOC first which they will confirm to me before the end of this week,” Bessah said.

     

    Oribamise is the second Nigerian player to be featuring in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) after Ojo Onaolapo took part in the maiden edition of YOG in Singapore, where he made it to the quarterfinal stage of the boys’ singles and now the Ondo State-born star is now integral part of the senior national team.

     

    However, President of ITTF Africa, Khaled El-Salhy, said the four players were indeed the best from the continent considering the qualities they displayed at the qualifiers.

     

    “I am satisfied with the qualities of play from all the players that took part in the qualifiers and those that emerged were indeed the best from the qualifiers. I just need to appeal to national associations to ensure that these four players prepare very well for the games because I could recall at the maiden edition of the game in Singapore, Africa represented by Tunisia’s Adam Hmem partnered with a Chinese player to win bronze in the mixed doubles event and it will be good if Africa can also do well next year in Argentina,” El-Salhy said.

     

    He said there are possibilities that Africa applied for wildcards which he said can only be awarded to countries with less number of participants in the games. “We hope to apply for wildcards because at the 2014 edition in China, we had four wildcards for Togo, Congo Brazzaville and others making African having eight players competing. But we hope we can apply again but this will only be given to countries with less number of participants in the games and not to top countries,” the ITTF Africa boss added.

  • Ahead of 2017 ITTF Africa Junior Championships: Tunisia dares Nigeria, Egypt

    Ahead of 2017 ITTF Africa Junior Championships: Tunisia dares Nigeria, Egypt


    Despite acknowledging the superiority of Nigeria and Egypt in Africa, National Technical Director of Tunisia Table Tennis Federation (TTTF), Ramzi Mabrouk believes they are going to ‘rock the boat’ against the superpowers at this year’s ITTF Africa Junior and Cadet Championship in April.
    Having produced teenage sensations duo of Omar Ammous and Bourass Aboubaker that have put the North African country in a vantage position in Africa, Mabrouk is optimistic that it would not be business as usual for Nigeria and Egypt in Tunis when the AJC serves off on April 9.
    “Undeniably, Egypt is the best table tennis nation in Africa. It has an important and historical Table Tennis culture. It also has financial and human resources made available to its federation to achieve the highest international level. Nigeria is not far away. It has great champions for several dozen years playing in iconic clubs in Europe. Tunisia had always been behind these two nations. Sometimes we were able to overtake them on some youth competitions. But it never lasted. Today we start a new cycle and we changed our strategy in order to being competitive and catch up. I hope to get there at the end of this Olympiad,” he said.
    Mabrouk, who will coordinate the Tunisia coaching crew during the tournament, admitted they cannot continue to play second fiddle in the continent. “We hope to win continental titles in different categories of the championship and we are working very diligently to arrive at that result. The Tunisian National Table Tennis Team has been preparing for this competition for a few months. We are in intensive training camps and we will participate in some international competitions in order to finally be ready on D-Day. Tunisia of course is one of the favourite countries for titles, as well as Egypt and Nigeria too. They have a lot of young talent very promising, in boys and girls too. Also, table tennis in Tunisia is increasingly popular, with a greater media presence, and a wider practice throughout the country,” he added.

  • Nigeria halts Egypt’s clean sweep of medals in Morocco

    In the last three years, Egypt has been dominating continental table tennis championships but at the just concluded ITTF Africa Senior Championships in Morocco, the Segun Toriola-led Nigerian team halted the Egyptians ruling of the sport.

    From the seven gold medals at stage, Nigeria beat Egypt to two of them in men’s doubles and women’s singles.

    It was a day to the end of the championship after Egypt had won three gold medals in women’s doubles, team events (men and women) as well as mixed doubles, Segun Toriola and Aruna Quadri overwhelmed Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh and El-Sayed Lashin 4-2 to claim the first gold medal for Nigeria.

    However, the women’s singles title which has continued to be the birth-right of Egypt was snatched from them by an experienced Olufunke Oshonaike, while what would have been the third gold medal skipped away when Aruna Quadri narrowly lost the men’s singles title to Egypt’s Omar Assar.

    With two gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze medal to emerge as the second placed teams among the 17 teams that featured in the one-week championship.

    To become the overall champion, Egypt won five gold medals.

    Meanwhile, the executive council of ITTF Africa has lauded the organisers of the championship, Morocco Table Tennis Federation (MTTF) for putting together a good show.

     

  • Nigeria’s Oladapo returns as ITTF Africa VP

    Nigeria’s Oladapo returns as ITTF Africa VP

    • Oshodi becomes regional boss

    Former Secretary General of Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Olabanji Oladapo has been returned unopposed as Vice President, Administration of the eight-man Executive Council of ITTF Africa during the Bi-Annual General Assembly (BGM) held in Agadir, Morocco on Tuesday.

    Similarly, the President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi has been elected as the Regional Vice President (Western Region) of ITTF Africa.

    Oshodi, who is also a Member of the Nominations Committee of ITTF will be in charge of the Western region which includes Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. He is expected to coordinate the activities in this region with the aim of developing table tennis.

    Wahid Enitan Oshodi
    Wahid Enitan Oshodi

    Oladapo was elected alongside the President, ITTF Africa, Egypt’s Khaled El-Salhy in the new executives for another four-year term.

    Khaled El-Salhy, who became the president of the second largest continental body under the ITTF was elected unopposed while Henry Djombo (CGO), Deputy President; Olabanji Oladapo (NGR), Vice President Administration; Hajera Kajee (RSA), Vice President Marketing; Berte Abou Bakary (CIV), Vice President Finance; Monqid Hajji (MAR), Vice President Media and Public Relations and Balla Lo (SEN), Vice President Technical were all elected unopposed.

    For the regional Vice Presidents, Abdennour Kaci (Algeria) takes charge of Northern Region, Wahid Oshodi (Nigeria) is in charge of Western Region, Alfred Bagueka (Cameroon) is for Central Region, Andrew Mudibo (Kenya) to administer Eastern Rgion and Joe Carrim (South Africa) will take control of Southern Region.

    The council members are Kamel Zaitouni (Algeria), Mahmoud Oumar (Djibouti), Jalal Hariz (Libya), Philippe Hao Thyn Voon    (Mauritius), Abdelrahman El-Sallawi (Sudan) and Thomas Kiggundo (Uganda).

    However, two more co-opted members are expected to be added through the ITTF-Africa Executive Council maiden meeting.

    In his acceptance speech, Khaled El-Salhy pledged to uplift the fortune of table tennis in the continent, while calling for more support from national associations. “I am highly honoured to be considered for another term in office and I want to that the congress for their trust and support. We are so ambitious for the future hoping that we can focus on development and marketing of the sport so that we can continue to grow the sport in Africa,” he said.

    Countries that staged major competitions were also honoured for their efforts.

    Over 18 national associations graced the BGM while the congress also commended Morocco for their efforts to stage a befitting ITTF Africa Senior Championships.

    For 2017, Tunisia will host the African Junior and Cadet Championships in April while Congo Brazzaville is considering hosting the ITTF African Cup and Club Championship in July.

  • Ahead of ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup: Quadri must be wary of Suraju

    Ahead of ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup: Quadri must be wary of Suraju

    Among the aged top table tennis players in Africa, Saka Suraju of Congo Brazzaville is considered second to Segun Toriola of Nigeria. Having played the game more than two decades and participating in various competitions, the Nigeria-born athlete believes the likes of Aruna Quadri, Omar Assar and others should expect surprise at the 2016 ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup holding  in Khartoum, Sudan

    With Toriola a year older than Saka Suraju and the 39 -year-old 2008 African champion believes he is not going to be a title pretender when the tournament serves off in Khartoum later this month.

    Without any doubt, Saka Suraju is endowed with a lot of experience having fought so many ‘wars’ both in Africa and at global level. He is no push-over in the continent while his record in 2008 when he became the continent’s number one ping ponger ahead of others.

    He was no where the men’s singles title when playing in front of the home fans at the 2015 African Games as he was shown the exit by Ahmed Saleh in the round of 16. But he enjoyed success in the doubles with some medals to show for his efforts.

    As usual an elated Saka Suraju said he would love to make another appearance at the ITTF World Cup this year but he is aware of the tasks ahead of him in Sudan.

    “I am very happy again to make another appearance at the ITTF Top 16 Cup and by God’s grace I will do well in Sudan. My target is to perform well. But I must admit that every tournament in Africa is becoming tougher because of the quality of players we now have. But the likes of Aruna Quadri and Omar Assar should be ready for surprise in Sudan because I am not going there to be a participant but title contender,” he boasted.

    Like an old warlord, Saka Suraju said he has not been in top shape after the African Games but he believes his years of experience will come to four against some of the youthful stars in Sudan.

    “I must confess that I have not been preparing well for the tournament but with my experience and God’s grace, I hope to do better than my last outing. I have featured at the ITTF World Cup in 2009 in Germany and I am looking forward to make another appearance in 2016,” he added.

  • 2015 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships: NTTF appeals to NSC for cash

    2015 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships: NTTF appeals to NSC for cash

    Few weeks to the kick-off of the 2015 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior Championships holding in Cairo, Egypt, the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) is passionately appealing to the National Sports Commission (NSC) to support the team financially to be able to be part of the championship.

    The tournament, according to Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), serves as qualifiers for this year’s World Championship scheduled for April in China. Also, the championship will aid Nigeria’s players in their quest to improve their world rating.

    According to NTTF Secretary-General, Chinedu Ezeala-Ogundare, the Cairo tournament serves as prerequisite for any team to be part of the 2015 World Championships in China, while it would also improve the country’s chances of getting good rating in the world.

    “The competition was scheduled to hold in Sudan this year but because of the Ebola Virus Disease, it was cancelled. But the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) just confirmed to us that the tournament will now be hosted by Egypt and this is a must for us and we must make it down there. For now, we are hoping to assemble our best players within and across the globe so that we can have a strong team.

    “We are using this medium to appeal to NSC to support us financially in order to be part of this competition. The performance of Aruna Quadri has now put more attention on Nigeria and for us, we need to be part of the competition to ascertain our status as a continental power house,” the NTTF scribe said.

    She, however, lauded the NSC for their unflinching backing in 2014, adding that she is optimistic that the country would make it to Egypt.

    In a statement made available by ATTF and signed by Mokhtar Toukabri, the tournament serves off on January 23 to 29.

    “ATTF has the pleasure in sending to all African Associations the new date of the 2014 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships, 23-29 January 2015 and it will be held in Cairo – Egypt. We need to remind all Associations that this event is a prerequisite for all who would like to participate in the 2015 WTTC in Suzhou – China during 27/4 – 3/5/2015, which means that no entries from Africa in the WTTC except for those African Associations with at least one player to join us in the 2014 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships, Cairo 23-29 January 2015 according to the new rules of ITTF. We are waiting for your final entries before January 15, 2015,” he said.

    However, Nigerian players led by Portugal-based Aruna Quadri are eager to be part of the tournament in order to halt the dominance of Egypt in Africa.