The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ITTF

  • Oribamise berths in 2018 Youth Olympic Games

    Oribamise berths in 2018 Youth Olympic Games

    …Solanke fails to pick a slot

     

    They came, they competed and they did not leave empty-handed and this aptly summarises the experience of the Nigeria’s representatives at the just concluded ITTF Africa Youth Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

    With a lot of adversaries on her way, Tosin Esther Oribamise returned Nigerian table tennis to the global stage at youth level when she sealed one of the two slots available for Africa in the girls’ event in Tunis Monday.

    From all her matches in the group stage, Oribamise won easily against her opponents but she met a stiff wall in Tunisia’s Garci Fadwa who nearly scuttled the dream of the Nigerian. But with technical input from Coach Dotun Omoniyi, Oribamise silent the Tunisian fans to win at 3-2 in order to set up a semifinal clash against Ines Outolla.

    The semifinal tie which served as the only match that will decide the eventual qualifiers proved to be an easy nut to crack for Oribamise as she overwhelmed her Moroccan counterpart with a 4-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-7, 11-1) bashing to secure the slot to YOG.

    Unlike Oribamise, Solanke failed the display the qualities of a typical Nigerian against Tunisia’s Nathael Hamdoun. The national junior champion became a shadow of himself against the Tunisian with a 4-0 (7-11, 8-11, 9-11, 6-11) loss to fail in his bid to join her compatriot in YOG.

    With this, Egypt’s duo of Youssef Abdel-Aziz and Marwa Alhodaby as well as Oribamise and Tunisia’s Hamdoun will represent Africa in the table tennis event of YOG come 2018.

     

  • Nigeria, Egypt renew rivalry at AJC in Tunis

    Nigeria, Egypt renew rivalry at AJC in Tunis

    Africa’s powerhouses in table tennis – Nigeria and Egypt will continue their dominance and rivalry at junior level when the 2017 ITTF African Junior Championship (AJC) serves off on April 9 in Tunis.

    Already, the ITTF Competition Manager for the tournament, Mounir Bessah has confirmed Nigeria and eight other countries for the competitions which serve as continental qualification for World Junior Championship holding later in the year in Italy.

    Bessah told NationSport yesterday that beside Nigeria, other countries which had confirmed their participation include defending champion, Egypt, Congo Brazzaville, Congo DRC, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritius, Djibouti, South Africa and host – Tunisia.

    He, however, said that more countries are still expected to confirm their participation as March 31 deadline looms.

    “For now nine countries have sent their list and perfected their registration for the AJC. Some countries are still expected to send their list as we are hoping that more countries will be competing at the tournament which will be used to select the African team for the World Cadet Challenge as well as the qualification for the World Junior Championships taking place in Italy,” Bessah said.

  • Ahead of ITTF Africa Junior Championship: Algerian teenager dismisses Nigeria, Egypt dominance in Tunis

    Having led the Algerian girls team to overcome Nigeria at the last World Juniors, Hiba Feredj believes the West African giant and Egypt would not dominate the forthcoming ITTF African Junior Championship holding in Tunis come April.

    The London-based Algerian teenager told SportingLife recently that with the quality of training coupled with the quality of the players, she is optimistic that they would make it to podium in Tunis.

    “Yes of course Algeria can compete for the podium because we have done it once against Nigeria and Egypt, so we can do it again. After all anything is possible and with hard work comes great reward. As long as we work hard then we can do it,” Feredj said.

    She, however, acknowledged the quality of Nigeria and Egypt which she said continue to improve but said that nothing is impossible in table tennis. “My target for this year’s African Junior Championships is to get as far as possible and hopefully win the competition. It will be good to win gold as well as do well in the team event as well. But overall I hope I play to my full potential and do well.”

    Feredj made her debut for Algeria in 2015 and since then she has been an integral part of the junior and senior national teams of the North African nation.

    Narrating her sojourn with the Algerian team, she said: “I am very happy and satisfied with my decision playing in the Algerian national team because at some point of my life I wanted to be able to play at international level and go out there to improve and compete at high level and now that I have had the opportunity to do that by playing with Algeria. I don’t regret that and will never regret my decisions I am very honoured to represent my national team.”

  • ITTF World Championship: Nigeria leads 15 African countries to Germany

    ITTF World Championship: Nigeria leads 15 African countries to Germany

    For their performance at the 2016 ITTF African Championships, Nigeria has been confirmed for this year’s International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Championships holding in Dusseldorf, Germany.

    Aside Nigeria, 15 other African countries including Egypt will represent the continent at the tournament expected to have more than 90 countries in attendance.

    Aside Nigeria and Egypt, other countries from Africa listed for the global tournament are Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Libya, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo and Tunisia.

    According to the list of eligible teams to enter players for the championships, Europe dominates the list of participants with 45 nations, while world champions – China will lead 37 Asian countries to the tournament.

    Also, Nigeria and Egypt will benefit from Aruna Quadri and Omar Assar ranking as both players are among the top 100 in the world and this will provide the two countries the opportunity to present four players each, while other countries that will have four players in the men’s event are Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and United States.

    Also, Austria, Belarus, Brazil, China, France, Hongkong, Japan, Korea Republic, Portugal and Chinese Taipei will present five players each while the host – Germany is expected to list six players for the competition.

    This year’s tournament holds on May 29 to June 5 and it will be organised by the Table Tennis Association of Germany (DTTB) with five individual events – Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles to be competed for at the eight-day championships.

    According to the prospectus of the competition, the first round proper of Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles will have 128 places and the first round proper of Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles will have 64 places.

    The singles events will have 64 seeded players, 32 direct entries and 32 qualifiers, while the Doubles events will have 32 seeded pairs, 16 direct entries and 16 qualifiers.

    Qualification  for  singles  will  initially  comprise  groups  followed  by  one  or  two knockout rounds, while qualification for doubles will be by knockout.  All singles matches will be best of seven games. Doubles matches will be best of five games in qualification matches and best of 7 games in the main draw.

  • Why I partner Omar Assar in doubles of 2017 ITTF World Tour – Aruna Quadri

    Why I partner Omar Assar in doubles of 2017 ITTF World Tour – Aruna Quadri

    To have an African team competing for honour at the end-of-the-year ITTF World Tour grand finals, Africa’s highest ranked player in the world, Aruna Quadri has agreed to join forces with Egypt’s Omar Assar in the doubles event of all ITTF World Tour for this year.

    Quadri, who started 2017 as the 25th ranked player in the world believes partnering Assar would give then the chance to feature in the lucrative grand finals having conquered some of the best doubles partners in their previous collaboration.

    “It was an easy decision for me to decide to partner Omar Assar because we seem to understand ourselves when we play together. We played very well at the Polish Open and Austria Open and we have made up our mind to play together in all ITTF World Tours this year with the aim of having Africa’s presence at the World Tour grand finals later in the year. We intend to play doubles together in all the World Tour we will be taking part in this year and I am hopeful that we can achieve our aim,” a confident Quadri said.

    The duo would kick-start their partnership at the first ITTF World Tour in 2017 holding in Budapest this month tagged Hungarian Open.

      For Omar Assar, partnerhing Quadri would help to put Africa on the world map in 2017. “Aruna Quadri is a very good player in singles and doubles and I think our relationship has been closer lately so we share more ideas off the table too. The first time we played together was at the 2015 Polish Open when we got to quarterfinal with our big win over Freitas and Gacina. Our target is to make it to the grand finals of 2017,” Omar Assar said.

  • Am fulfilled as Africa’s No. 2 -Oshonaike

    Am fulfilled as Africa’s No. 2 -Oshonaike

    Africa’s oldest serving female table tennis player, Olufunke Oshonaike, on Saturday described her No. 2 ranking in Africa after her triumph at the 2016 ITTF African Championships in Morocco as fulfilling.

    Oshonaike told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) over the telephone from her base in Germany that she was happy and felt complete with the ranking.

    “ This is a ranking I must say is well deserved, I worked so hard for it and I am happy my efforts yielded a positive result.

    “This ranking actually means a lot to me and it is very dear to my heart.

    “To be candid, I never expected it and I am on top of the world with so much joy and happiness,’’ she told NAN.

    NAN reports that the mother of two boys reclaimed the title she last won in 2003 and is currently the African Women’s Singles Table Tennis champion.

    The Olympian added that she was Nigeria’s lone female representative at the competition in Morocco and that it dampened her spirit.

    “I was so sad that the government did not provide money for other female players to participate. It was frustrating because I was the only female.

    “Miraculously, I found myself in the final against the number one player in Africa who had yet to lose any match to an African in the past five years.

    “ It was like a mission impossible but I decided to give my best shot at it.

    “My coach, Segun Toriola, who was in Morocco to cheer me, told me to just hang on there and enjoy myself. I did and my opponent was making mistakes to my advantage.

    “I’m so happy because it’s like a divine arrangement to crown my efforts.

    “This action has cut out the country for two global competitions coming up in 2017 and 2018,’’ she said.

    NAN reports that in spite of her age (41), Oshonaike is still waxing stronger in the game and has become a role model to players in the continent.

  • ITTF: Nigeria beats New Zealand, moves up world team rating

    ITTF: Nigeria beats New Zealand, moves up world team rating

    Unlike their female counterpart, the Nigerian boys’ team on Saturday defeated New Zealand in the classification match of the ITTF World Junior Championships to rise in the final rating of teams for the competition.

    The Nigerian side who were rated 18 before the tournament now moves to 17th place in the world rating for junior male team.

    It was Amadi Omeh who ensured that Nigeria got the needed victory against New Zealand after Tobi Falana lost the third game to put the match at 2-1 after Azeez Solanke and Omeh had won the first two games.

    However, in his usual style, Omeh ascertained Nigeria’s victory with a rout of his opponent in the fourth game to give Nigeria a 3-1 overall win.

    Meanwhile, Nigeria failed to make it to the knockout stage of the mixed doubles event with the Asian teams dominating the event. However, Azeez Solanke partnered an Algerian girl to cause a major upset against Hong Kong.

      The singles event serves off on Sunday with the preliminary round to decide the players that will advance to the main draw of the event. Over 96 boys and 96 girls are competing in the singles event as Chinese players are determined to retain their title.

  • ITTF World Ranking: Quadri remains in top 25

    ITTF World Ranking: Quadri remains in top 25

    • As Oshonaike, others rise

    Despite not making beyond the first round at the ITTF World Cup coupled with his second place finish at the last Africa Senior Championships, Aruna Quadri maintains his 25th spot in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world ranking released at the weekend.

    Also in the latest November world ranking, African women’s singles champion, Olufunke Oshonaike made a giant stride in the world rating as the Germany-based star rose to 206 from 253 as the highest ranked Nigerian female player in the world.

    Seven-time Olympian, Segun Toriola also moved up the ranking as the former African champion is now rated 101 from 109 where he was in October. Toriola maintained his place as the third highest ranked African player in the world.

    Bode Abiodun also moved from 183 to 175 in the ranking while Azeez Jamiu, Olajide Omotayo and Nurudeen Hassan made entries into the ranking list.

  • I’ve put Morocco defeat behind me – Quadri

    I’ve put Morocco defeat behind me – Quadri

    Following his narrow loss to Egypt’s Omar Assar in the final of the men’s singles of ITTF Africa Senior Championships, Aruna Quadri has said he looks ahead for better days in his blossoming career.

    The 2014 ITTF Star Player was on Tuesday made the four-man nominees list for this year’s ITTF Star Awards told NationSport yesterday that he is hoping to return to his French club as they continue their quest for top finish in the 2016/2017 season.

    “I think I was a bit unlucky to have lost the match. I am not really disappointed because I gave my best and it was clear from the beginning. I am satisfied with my performance as I am looking forward to a better outing in subsequent tournaments. In the overall I am contempt with the performance of our team because we never gave up. We were able to prove ourselves against the Egyptian and now we have some young players that were part of the team. I believe with more exposure they can make impact in major competitions,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) has appealed to fans within and across Nigeria to vote for Aruna Quadri for him to become the first athlete to win the award twice.

    To vote for Aruna Quadri, fans are expected to visit ITTFStarawards.com while the voting closes on November 13. The grand finale holds on December 8 in Doha, Qatar.

  • Quadri gets nomination for 2016 ITTF Star Awards

    Quadri gets nomination for 2016 ITTF Star Awards