The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ITTF

  • ITTF condoles with Nigeria over Ogunlade’s demise

    ITTF condoles with Nigeria over Ogunlade’s demise

    Executive member of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), Khaled El-Salhy has condoled with the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) over the untimely demise of former junior star, Azeez Ogunlade.

    El-Salhy who is also the President of the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) described the passing on of the player as a big loss to table tennis in Africa.

    “I am so sad for such sudden news, we have really a remarkable player who represented Nigeria and Africa at both cadet and junior levels,” said Khaled El-Salhy. “My deepest condolences on behalf of African Table Tennis Federation Executive Committee are extended to the family of Azeez  Ogunlade family and the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation.”

    Like El-Salhy, Vice President of ATTF, Olabanji Oladapo said: “The death of Azeez  Ogunlade came as a rude shock to me in the US where I am currently holidaying. It is very unfortunate that ATTF had to lose such a budding star at a tender age. I commiserate with the President, Secretary-General, entire members of the board of NTTF, players, family and his friends on his demise. May we not witness such sudden death again in the federation.”

    Anan Executive Vice President, Development of ATTF, Farah Hassan Farah said: “This is a heart breaking news! ! It is shocking to hear it. On behalf of Djiboutian federation, tennis table players, and specially my son Abdourazack are join me to present their sincere sympathies to Azeez Family and President Wahid Oshodi.”

    Ogunlade died on Sunday 15th November after a brief illness; he was only 20 years old.

  • ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Animasahun, others begin quest for honours

    ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Animasahun, others begin quest for honours

    Nigeria’s sole representative at the 2015 ITTF World Cadet Challenge, 12 year-old Abayomi Animsahun will today begin his quest for honours alongside other top cadet players across the globe at the one-week tournament holding at  Sharm El-Shiekh  in Egypt.

    Animasahun, who is part of the ITTF Hopes Team, will be coached by Bode Ajayi and he is expected to compete in the singles, team and doubles as well as mixed doubles events.

    Although, Africa also has a team competing at the tournament and Nigeria’s inability to attend the last African Junior Championship in Mauritius caused the non-listing of any of its players in the continental team.

    However, Animasahun, who has prepared very well for the championship having been in camp with the senior national team during the pre-African Games training, was also part of the training put together for the participants at the World Cadet Challenge. He has promised to make Nigeria proud.

    “I am happy that Nigeria’s name will be mentioned at the championship after I had to travel to China to make the ITTF Hopes Team. This qualification is an inspiration to me to do well while the training I had with the national team under the watchful eyes of German tactician Martin Adomeit will be helpful to me and I hope to practicalise everything I learnt from the camp. I am looking forward to doing well,” the Ekiti teenage sensation told SportingLife.

    Egypt’s twin, Mariam Alhodaby and Youssef Abdel-Aziz will spearhead the African team at the championship.

    Also, the host nation is most certainly well represented; eyes being very much on Youssef Abdel-Aziz as well as on the twin sisters – Marwa and Marian Alhobady.

    Pertinently, Youssef Abdel-Aziz was on duty one year ago when the tournament was staged in Bridgetown, Barbados; he finished the Boys’ Singles event in a highly creditable 14th place.

    Now the task for the 15 year-old is to build on the performance of one year ago; most certainly he has proved himself more than capable.

     

  • ITTF World Tour: Quadri begins campaign in men’s singles

    ITTF World Tour: Quadri begins campaign in men’s singles

    Aruna Quadri will today in Warsaw begins his campaign in the men’s singles event of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour tagged Polish Open.

    The 2014 ITTF Star Player who recently led Sporting Lisbon to clinch the Portuguese Super Cup has been seeded number 25 among the 32 top players seeded for the men’s singles event.

    Aware of the task ahead of him in the main draw, Quadri believes anything is possible as he may likely battle World number two in the second round of the competition.

    In the doubles, Quadri partnered his continental rival, Omar Assar of Egypt and they began their campaign from the preliminary yesterday against their Indian countparts.

    Meanwhile, in Warsaw, China’s Ma Long, fresh from his success at the recent Liebherr 2015 Men’s World Cup, is the top seed; he is followed by his colleagues Xu Xin, Fan Zhendong and Zhang Jike.

    Japan’s Jun Mizutani is the next in line, ahead of Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov; Portugal’s Marcos Freitas and Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan complete the top eight names.

    However, of that illustrious group, only Chuang Chih-Yuan has completed the mandatory requirement of competing in five Tour tournaments in the year to qualify for the Finals.

    Poland will be his sixth appearance. Currently Chuang Chih-Yuan is named at no.11 (450 points) and can reasonably expect to be one of the 16 names that compete in the Men’s Singles event in Lisbon.

  • ‘Nigeria crucial to rising table tennis profile’

    ‘Nigeria crucial to rising table tennis profile’

    With the stride and performance of its players at global level, Nigeria remains crucial to the rising profile of table tennis in the world and particularly in Africa.

    These were the views of the President, African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy, who told NationSport at the just concluded ITTF Africa Senior Cup in Cameroon that in the last three years, Nigeria has indeed helped to raise the profile of the sport in Africa with the staging of the Lagos Classics in 2013.

    He however, said that he was impressed with what Nigeria has attracted to Africa as the world table tennis governing body, International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) now see the West African nation as a crucial to its programmes in the world.

    “Nigeria started to come back on the right track three years ago under the leadership of Wahid Oshodi, and I can see how much promotion they got for the Cadet & Junior level to provide new generation of players. Of course they have opened doors for Aruna Quadri to show his class to the world at the 2014 ITTF World Cup in Germany. The hosting of Lagos Open for the last three years in a row has made Nigeria a place to be for top players in Africa and the tournament has also become part of the GAC World Tour events. Since its inception, it has been successful and it has been worthwhile to promote the game in Nigeria and it has also put the country on world map,” the ATTF boss said.

    He added: “I am so happy for the big steps we have made regarding growth and popularity of table tennis in the last few years and not only worldwide but also in Africa. For example two years ago no one could believe that we could have live streaming on youtube some TV channels for our African Cup or African Championships as we have now in 2015, while the number of members of ATTF this year has reached 51 affiliated National Associations. This for us is a plus and this was made possible with the singular efforts made by Nigeria and countries like Egypt and Congo Brazzaville.”

    For all these to be possible, El-Salhy admitted, “We are all working as a team in ATTF Executive Committee to enlarge the number of affiliated associations within ITTF/ATTF, and also to promote the participation and well organization of our activities to get more popular.”

  • ITTF African Championships: Nigeria, Egypt in semifinal tie

    For finishing second in group two of the ITTF African Clubs Championships, Nigeria’s Union Bank has set up a semifinal tie against Egypt’s Alhy today in Yaounde.

    The Nigerian team coached by Samson Ajayi defeated Ethiopia, Cameroon and lost to Congo Brazzaville to settle for second place in the group.

    In the final group match, Union Bank thrashed Cameroon team 3-0, while they repeated same margin win over Ethiopia. They were however unfortunate against Congo Brazzaville as the scintillating performance by Ahmed Bello could not save the team from losing 3-1 to the Congolese.

    A confident Ajayi told NationSport that they are capable of causing upset against the Egyptian as the players are in form to play against any team regardless of their pedigree.

    “We are ready for any team because we are here to make our country proud and we hope we can surprise them tomorrow,” Ajayi said.

    In the second semifinal, defending champion, Congo Brazzaville’s Club Avenir will battle Algeria’s US Baraki for a place in the final.

    Congo Brazzaville’s Saheed Idowu, believes the Algerian team is beatable having defeated them in previous tournament.

    “I am confident that we can make it to the final because the Algerian team is very familiar to us and with the form we are now, we can also repeat same feat against them in the semifinal and we look forward to retaining our title in this competition,” Idowu said.

  • ITTF Africa Senior Cup: Quadri, Makanjuola, others chase World Cup slots

    ITTF Africa Senior Cup: Quadri, Makanjuola, others chase World Cup slots

     

    2014 ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri and Kazeem Makanjuola as well as Africa’s highest ranked player, Egypt’s Omar Assar and others will today in Yaoundé, Cameroon at the 2015 ITTF Africa Senior Cup fight for a place in the World Cups.

    In the men’s category, Quadri and Makanjuola, who are Nigeria’s flagbearers in the competition, will contend with Assar and his compatriots from Egypt – El-Sayed Lashin and Mohammed El-Beiali as well as the duo of Saka Suraju and Saheed Idowu of Congo Brazzaville including players from Togo, Cameroon and Algeria.

    For the women’s division, Nigeria’s pair of Funke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong including the defending champion, Han Xing of Congo Brazzaville and Egypt’s duo of Dina Meshref and Nadeen El-Dawlatly will battle for supremacy.

    According to the President, Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy, “For sure all eyes will be on the Men’s Singles with the favourites being Omar Assar and Quadri Aruna when World ranking is taken into consideration. Also the defending champion, El-Sayed Lashin will also be aiming for the title but this again will surely be a tight contest between Nigeria and Egypt in the Men’s event.”

    “I believe that the feat achieved by Quadri Aruna at the 2014 Men’s World Cup in Germany has increased the interest of all players in the tournament.

    “This year’s competition will give players another opportunity to be part of the qualification for the World Cup and I believe they all want to emulate Quadri Aruna by achieving a similar feat.”

    “In the women’s contest, it will be a fight between Egypt’s Dina Meshref and Congo Brazzaville’s Han Xing; they are the best ranked players from Africa in the latest World ranking,” added Khalid El-Salhy, who advised that 12 countries have confirmed their entries for the tournament, an event which promises to raise the standard of organisation and presentation.

    “I can see that the Cameroon Table Tennis Federation is well prepared; they have received sponsored equipment to be used in such event,” said Khalid El-Salhy referring to agreements reached between the African Table Tennis Federation and the International Table Tennis Federation.

    “With what I have seen and heard, I am satisfied with their preparations, while I am hoping that the tournament will gain widespread media coverage,” noted Khalid El-Salhy.

    “As usual the equipment sponsors, Butterfly, Tinsue flooring and Double Happiness as a result of contracts with TMS International will provide top level equipment; also TMS International is supporting the prize money.”   “I believe that for the first time this year, we could have more than one representative from Africa to play in the World Cup. This is due to the high ranking for our top players,” he concluded.

  • ITTF Africa Senior Cup: Egypt seeded ahead of Nigeria

    ITTF Africa Senior Cup: Egypt seeded ahead of Nigeria

    From the seeding list released yesterday by the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Egypt has been seeded ahead of Nigeria in the men and women event of the ITTF Africa Senior Cup in Yaounde, Cameroon.

    In the men’s seeding list, defending champion, Egypt’s El-Sayed Lashin and his compatriot, Omar Assar are rated number one and two above Nigeria’s duo of Aruna Quadri and Kazeem Makanjuola. Quadri, who recently guided GD Toledos of Portugal to retain the league, is seeded number three while Makanjuola, who replaced six-time Olympian, Segun Toriola is seeded number seven.

    In the women’s seeding, Egypt’s Dina Meshref tops the list with her compatriot, Nadeen El-Dawlatly is rated number three.

    Defending champion, Han Xing of Congo Brazzaville is seeded number two while Nigeria’s duo of Edem Offiong and Olufunke Oshonaike are seeded number four and five respectively.

    Eight countries made up Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco, Togo, Congo DRC, Congo Brazzaville and host – Cameroon are competing in the three-day tournament, which serves as qualifiers for the ITTF World Cups.

    Meanwhile, Makanjuola will be making his second appearance at the tournament after losing to Egypt’s El-Sayed Lashin in the quarter-final stage of the 2013 edition in Oyo, Congo Brazzaville.

    An excited Makanjuola knows what is at stake in Yaoundé and he is ready to better his 2013 outing in Yaoundé.

    “I am very excited that I was considered to step into the shoes of Segun Toriola after he withdrew due to ill-health and I understand the confidence that NTTF repose on me and I must ensure I don’t fail them in Cameroon.

    Also this has afforded me the rare opportunity to make my second appearance at the tournament after losing to El-Sayed Lashin in 2013 in the quarter-final stage while I defeated him during the Club Championship at same event.

    For me, I see this as an opportunity to prove myself and make my country proud,” he said.

    Prior to his call-up for the Cameroon competition, Makanjuola said he has been training hard in readiness for the All Africa Games after being included in the 20-man list released by NTTF for the multi-sports games in the Central African country come September.

    “Before I got the nod to make the team to Cameroon, I have been training for the All Africa Games after being invited to camp and this has also put me in good shape for the Yaoundé tourney.

    My efforts in the past few weeks will surely be put to test in Yaoundé and I am confident that my best will come to fore,” he said.

    Makanjuola, however, admitted the threat the Egyptians might pose to Nigeria, adding that others would not be able to withstand the prowess of the West African players.

    “I know that the Egyptians are the only team that will want to prove hard because Congo Brazzaville is our familiar opponents that we are sure of overcoming them in Cameroon.

    Personally my target is to make it to the semi-final stage and from there anything can happen. I finished in the last eight in 2013 and I hope I can do better than that this year without any intimidation from the Egyptians because they are beatable,” Makanjuola said

  • ITTF Egypt Junior Open: Nigeria seeded in Cairo

    Despite its absence at previous International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Junior Circuit (WJC) tagged Egypt Junior and Cadet Open, Nigeria has been seeded among the top five teams in the boys and girls team event of the one-week championship holding at the  October 6th Sports Hall in Cairo, Egypt.

    In the seeding list released by ITTF, Nigeria is seeded fifth in the junior boys’ team event while the Nigerian girls are seeded number two in the junior girls’ team event. In the cadet boys’ team event, Nigeria is rated fourth while the girls are seeded fifth.

    Fourteen events in junior, cadet and mini cadet will be contested for by over 138 players from Nigeria, Algeria, Botswana, India, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Romania, Slovakia, Togo, Tunisia and host – Egypt.

    In the junior event, Esther Oribasmise and Olasunkanmi Oginni will lead the Nigeria team, while 12 year-old Abayomi Animasahun will spearhead the team in the cadet division.

    Meanwhile, organisers of the championship hope to treat players to an exciting time.

    According to President, Egypt Table Tennis Federation (ETTF), Alaa Meshref, a lot of things have been lined up for teams.

    “The unique thing is that all African and Arab competitors of Egypt are coming this year. It will be an Afro-Arab festival for the youngsters in table tennis. This will provide these countries with a clear vision of where each one stands relative to their rivals. We will provide touristic half day and full day excursions through Sheraton Dreamland with GER special prices to any number of persons on any day,” he said.

    The ETTF boss said facilities provided for the championship is of international standard.

    “It is done in a new hall related to the Ministry of Sports. We managed to get high speed internet although the hall does not have landlines yet. We are getting it through an expensive technology (WiMAX). We are trying to secure live YouTube streaming,” he added.

    Despite the few days that the Egyptian team had to prepare for the competition, Alaa Meshref is hopeful that the team would do well. “A lot of our players have exams especially juniors in last year of school. However, we had an intensive training camp prior to the tournament in our new hall in Cairo Stadium. The camp was very successful. Goodluck to all teams and everyone is welcomed in Cairo,” said Meshref.

  • Aruna Quadri joins French club

    Aruna Quadri joins French club

    Having put the disappointing outing at the World Championship behind him coupled with efforts to improve his performance, 2014 ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri has quit his Portuguese club to team up with a French club in the lucrative France Table Tennis Federation (FTTF) organised league.

    Unlike other players plying their trade in the lower division of the French league, Quadri has inked a deal with an elite team in the Premier league – Jura Morez TT.

    The team who won the 2013/2014 season in Pro B to gain promotion to the top division will retain its place in the upper league where Quadri will also be playing with the world’s best like World number 10 and Portugal’s Marcos Freitas.

    The deal was formally concluded during a recent trip by Quadri to Paris, where he met with the management of the team and also used the opportunity to inspect the club facilities.

    Quadri was well received by the management of the club led by its chairman and Secretary, G. Philippe and M. Gilles.

    An elated Quadri told NationSport that it was the desire to improve his game as well as play alongside top players in the world that promoted his movement to France.

    Having won everything that was at stake in the Portuguese league after moving to the European nation in 2010, Quadri believes playing in the French league would help improve his game as well as expose him to top players.

    Among Quadri’s teammates in the French club are Spain’s He Zhiwen, 52, was the oldest player at the last World Championships in China.

    Zhiwen is ranked 81 in the world. Also in the team is 29 year-old Canada’s Eugene Wang ranked 85th in the world.

    Meanwhile, Quadri will return to the ITTF World Tour this week in Zagreb, Croatia.

    The ITTF World Tour tagged Croatia Open has Quadri and Mawussi Agbetoglo as Africa’s representatives at the five-day tournament.

    The Oyo State-born athlete will partner Portugal’s Andre Silva in the men’s doubles event for the competition, which serves off today.

  • ITTF World Championships: Ma Long is world champion as China dominates

    ITTF World Championships: Ma Long is world champion as China dominates

    World number one, Ma Long confirmed why he is still the best player in the globe after emerging as the new champion at the 53rd ITTF World Championship, which ended yesterday at the Suzhou International Expo Centre in China.

    Also host – China dominated all the five events at the seven-day championship with the team claiming gold in men and women doubles, women and men singles while China and Korea shared the gold in the mixed doubles after their players paired for the event.

    The only European team that made it to the podium is Netherland which settled for bronze in the women’s doubles event.

    To be crowned the new champion, Ma Long defeated compatriot – Fan Bo 4-2 in a thrilling and entertaining final watched by over 5000 crowd at the venue.

    However in the men’s singles, attempting to match the record of his compatriot, Zhuang Zedong who secured the crown on three consecutive occasions starting in 1961; Zhang Jike, the number three seed, was beaten at the semi-final stage of the Men’s Singles event by Chinese National Team compatriot, Fang Bo, the no.13 seed.

    Against all expectations and predictions, Fang Bo playing in the Men’s Singles event at a World Championships for the very first time, secured a five games win (11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 11-9, 12-10), in a contest where an anticipated recovery never happened.

    It was not one of the most dramatic duels, more one that left the crowd somewhat stunned that the player who own the OIympic Games Men’s Singles title, had been beaten in such a manner.

    A first appearance in a World Championships Men’s Singles semi-final but there was no hint of nerves in the play of Fang Bo as matters commenced; moving freely, usually the first to attack, he dominated the opening game.

    The errors were minimal and it was very much the same at the start of the second game; in the counter top spin department, he was the equal of Zhang Jike. The first game secured, the second followed not in such a commanding fashion but with a degree of comfort.

    Zhang Jike was making more errors than expected when trying to control the fluent top spin play of his adversary; equally in the rallies the vote went with Fang Bo.

    Everyone anticipated a Zhang Jike recovery, surely he would come out all guns blazing in the fifth game but he continued to experience problems trying to control top spin play of Fang Bo and on occasions he erred with his forehand top spin; most unusually losing his technique.

    At 7-all he called “Time Out”, the next four points were shared; at 9-all it was parity; then match point to Fang Bo. The point was saved by at 11-10 Fang Bo had a second opportunity. The chance was taken; contrary to popular opinion, Fang Bo had booked his place in the final.