The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Olajide Omotayo

  • Hungarian Open: Omotayo face Indian in deciding tie

    Hungarian Open: Omotayo face Indian in deciding tie

     

    Having learnt from what befell him in 2017, Olajide Omotayo refused to play to the gallery at the ITTF World Tour in Hungary as the former national junior champion took his Canadian counterpart to the cleaner in the first group match of the men’s singles.

    In 2017, Omotayo lost most of his first matches at the ITTF World Tours but this year, he took his game to higher level as was in superb form against Canada’s Antoine Bernadet.

    From the first game, it was as if the Canadian wanted to rattle the Nigerian after winning 11-1. But on returning to the table, Omotayo stunned his opponent by winning four consecutive games to put the encounter beyond the Canadian. The match ended 1-11, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7 (4-1) and Omotayo has now set up a deciding tie against Indian Sanil Shetty Wednesday.

    Unlike Omotayo, Kazeem Makanjuola was on the losing end as he was thrashed 4-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7) by Denmark’s Anders Lind in Group 28. Makanjuola last group tie will be against England’s Samuel Walker.

    In the men’s doubles Wednesday, Omotayo and Makanjuola will slug it against Czech Republic’s duo of Tomas Konecny and Tomas Polansky in the preliminary round.

    In 2017, the heart of the home team was broken when their home girl was beaten by Romania’s Adina Diaconu, but yesterday on the opening day of action in Budapest, Orsolya Feher was the toast of the host nation in the qualification tournament.

    The no.25 seed, against the odds, booked her place in the quarter-finals of the Under 21 Women’s Singles event.

    The 18 year old had earlier edged out number 9 seed Daria Trigolos of Belarus (11-9, 11-4, 2-11, 11-9), and Germany’s Wan Yuan (11-5, 11-7, 11-2) respectively.

  • Omotayo secures five-year -deal with Gewo

    Omotayo secures five-year -deal with Gewo

  • Belgium Open: Omotayo heads Nigerian contingent

    Belgium Open: Omotayo heads Nigerian contingent

     

    Italy-based Olajide Omotayo will lead two other Nigerians to the 2017 ITTF Challenge Belgium Open which serves off Tuesday in Belgium.

    Former international, Kazeem Nosiru and Dotun Aiyelumo will also begin their campaigns in the group stage of the men’s singles of the tournament.

    Omotayo has been drawn in Group two alongside Chinese Taipei’s SUN Chia-Hung and Germany’s HOHMEIER Nils.

    Also, Nosiru will battle Austria’s CHEN Alexander and Iran’s WAHID Habibie in group 24 while Aiyelumo will slug it out with Russia’s IVONIN Denis and Netherlands’ OOSTWOUDER Ewout in group 37.

    The top player in each group is expected to advance to the knockout stage of the men’s singles. Other African teams on duty are Algeria and Egypt.

    In the men’s doubles, Omotayo will partner Romania’s CAZACU Alexandru, while Nosiru and Aiyelumo will team up as well from the preliminary round of the event.

    Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia is the top seed followed by Germany’s Ricardo Walther and Sharath Kamal Achanta, also from India. In 2010 Tiago Apolonia won in Austria, Sharath Kamal Achanta in Egypt; four years later Ricardo Walther succeeded in Croatia.

    Additionally, further down the list, Korea’s Kim Donghyun won in 2015 in Bulgaria; in 2012 Russia’s Vasily Lakeev succeeded in both Belarus and Egypt. In De Haan, Kim Donghyun is the no.8 seed, Vasily Lakeev, the no.15 seed.

    Recapturing form of bygone days is very much the task for Kim Donghyun and Vasily Lakeev; for three notable names who appear high in the order of merit it is a question of maintaining present form.

    Benedikt Duda, ever more competitive on the international scene in the no.4 seed in the Men’s Singles event; he is followed immediately by German compatriot Patrick Franziska and Slovenia’s Bojan Tokic. Both Patrick Franziska and Bojan Tokic were outstanding at the recent Liebherr 2017 European Team Championships as Germany secured gold and Slovenia an unprecedented bronze.

    Likewise prominent Men’s Singles names are also very much in evidence in the Men’s Doubles competition, an event in which Belgium has high hopes.

    The winner earlier this year on the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour in Qatar, he is the top seed; next in line is Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic, followed by Russia’s Sadi Ismailov; Ng Pak Nam, also from Hong Kong completes the top four names.

  • ITTF Challenge: Omotayo eyes knockout stage at Belgium Open

    ITTF Challenge: Omotayo eyes knockout stage at Belgium Open

    Being his fifth ITTF-sanctioned this year, Olajide Omotayo is hoping to make it to the knockout stage of the men’s singles at the ITTF Challenge Belgium Open.

    The Italy-based Omotayo has arrived in Belgium shaping up for the tournament which serves off tomorrow will be joined in the competition by his compatriots – Kazeem Nosiru and Dotun Aiyelumo.

    “I had featured in four tournaments this year and for me I have always been inspired by my performance at the World Championships in Germany. Although, competing at the highest level is not that easy but I will continue to work hard to ensure that I put up good performance. My target in Belgium is to first of all qualify from the group stage and see what is next,” he said.

    Omotayo added that the performance of Aruna Quadri has continued to inspire players like him to aim high as Europeans now accord respect to Nigerian and African players. “There is no doubt that the performance of Aruna Quadri coupled with his global recognition has continued to rub off positively on the profile of Nigerian and African players. Whenever we are playing against the Europeans they are always afraid of us thinking that the performance of Aruna Quadri will be similar to our own. But it is also a big challenge for us because we have to also raise our game to measure up with the respect we now command in Europe,” Omotayo added.

  • Quadri remains 25th in ITTF World Ranking

    Quadri remains 25th in ITTF World Ranking

    Despite not making it beyond the first round at the ITTF World Cup coupled with his second place finish at the last ITTF Africa Senior Championships, Aruna Quadri maintained his 25th spot in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world ranking released at the weekend.
    Also in the 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.
    Quadri’s conqueror at the ITF Africa Senior Championships, Egypt’s Omar Assar fortune improved in the latest ranking as the Egyptian rose from 57 to 49.
    Meanwhile, Quadri has solicited the support of his fans globally to vote for him as the ITTF Star Player of the year through the ITTFStarawards.com.

  • ITTF Championships: Egypt quakes over Toriola’s arrival

    ITTF Championships: Egypt quakes over Toriola’s arrival

    The arrival of Segun Toriola in Morocco late on Monday has thrown Egypt into technical confusion at the ongoing ITTF African Senior Championships holding in Agadir, Morocco.

    Prior to the arrival of Toriola, who is regarded as the most successful table tennis player in the continent, the Egyptians were relieved that they would have an easy ride over Nigeria with only Aruna Quadri as the only threat in the team.

    But late on Monday, when the North African heard about the arrival of Toriola, their camp has been thrown into confusion with some of their players describing it as a huge challenge for them to reclaim their title in the men’s team event.

    Even some of the Egyptian coaches were eager to make an enquiry about the players that would be presenting for the tournament while they took their time to size up Nigerian players like Olajide Omotayo, Nurudeen Hassan and Jamiu Azeez.

    They were also convinced that they would have a smooth win over the Nigerians after watching the West African team sweating hard to defeat Tunisia 3-1 in their group match on Monday.

    One of the most experienced players in the Egyptian team, Ahmed Saleh told NationSport that Toriola is a dangerous player with a lot of experience, adding that Toriola’s present form might pose a lot of problem to them in the team event.

    The Egyptian team are eager to reclaim their title after losing the men’s team title to Nigeria at the 2015 African Games.

  • Omotayo leads seven qualifiers to ITTF Nigeria Open

    Former national junior champion, Olajide Omotayo confirmed his superiority in the men’s event after emerging as overall winner in the qualifiers for the 2016 ITTF World Tour tagged Nigerian Open.

    Omotayo was in fine form against over 106 competitors at the two-day tournament while his unbeaten run continued till the final match against Kazeem Makanjuola.

    Like a true champion, Omotayo threw caution to the wind in the final match against Makanjuola as he dealt with his more experienced opponent with a 4-0 to emerge as the overall champion.

    Apart from Omotayo and Makanjuola, other players that made it to the top four finish are Oladele Kehinde and Akanbi Rilwan.

    In the women event, Tosin Oribamishe and Fatimo Bello were finalists while the top four finish was completed with the inclusion of Bose Odusanya and Nimota Aregbesola.

    Over 106 men and 48 women took part in the qualifiers for the ITTF Nigeria Open scheduled for May 18 to 22 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium.

     

  • ITTF World Junior Championships: Nigeria now 15th in the world

    ITTF World Junior Championships: Nigeria now 15th in the world

    Nigeria now 15 in the world after beating Australia in the final match of the team event at the ongoing ITTF World Junior Championships.

    Nigeria versus Australia results are as follows: Azeez Ogunlade lost to Ivan Sulfaro 11-7, 3-11, 8-11, 5-11. Olajide Omotayo beat Jake Duffy 11-5, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8 Olasunkanmi Oginni beat Yang Shen 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 and Olajide Omotayo beat Ivan Sulfaro 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 to help Nigeria to finish 15th in the world.

    Nigeria is now ahead of Egypt in Africa and in the world.