The Nation Newspaper

Tag: table tennis

  • Table Tennis Nigeria out of Men’s Doubles

    Nigeria has crashed out of the Table Tennis Men’s Double event at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. The duo of Aruna Quadri and Segun Toriola lost in the quarter-finals to Singapore’s Pang Yew En Koen and Poh Shao Feng Ethan 3-1 at Oxenford Studio yesterday.

    The elimination of Quadri and Toriola effectively ends the country’s search for medals in the Doubles event. There was however a ray of hope in the Men’s Singles event where Quadri made it to the last four.

    The Nigerian number 1 seed completely outclassed Hameet Desai of India 4-0 in the quarter- finals decided yesterday.

    In today’s semi-finals, Quadri will face India’s top seed Sharath  Achanta in what is arguably the game of the tournament.

    It was Achanta who spearheaded India’s overwhelming defeat of Nigeria in the Men’s Team event in the absence of Quadri. In the other semi-finals, it will be another battle of the titans when Singapore’s Ning Gao faces Samuel Walker of England.

  • Nigeria is a force in table tennis, says Pitchford

    If there is any table tennis player that believes the Nigeria will pose a threat to other teams in the fight for dominance at the XXI Commonwealth Games, it is England’s talisman – Liam Pitchford.

    Pitchford, who plies his trade in the lucrative French elite league, told NationSport in London that he believed that Nigerians could compete for dominance with quality players, such as Aruna Quadri, among others.

    This year, the 24-year-old Chesterfield-born star is hoping to turn the silver and bronze medals won at his two appearances in 2010 Delhi and 2014 Glasgow to gold in Gold Coast, Australia.

    “I think we have quite a few players who could win the singles event; the Indian players are strong, Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna will be the top seed probably, my teammates also and of course GAO Ning. So it should be a very close and exciting tournament. But I must also admit that the Nigerian team is an experienced side who are also heavyweights in table tennis and we cannot look down on them in Australia.”

    Being the engine room of the English team at the 2018 World Team Cup in London, Pitchford is hopeful that his team would dominate others.

    “The target is to bring as many medals back with us as possible. Especially the team because that is the first event and we really want the gold medal after two silver medals in a row. Also in the singles, I want to improve on my bronze from Glasgow,” he said.

    Being his third appearance at the Commonwealth Games, Pitchford never takes his selection with kids’ love, saying, “It is a great honour and I’m very proud to represent my country in such a big event. Delhi 2010 provided me with an opportunity to prove myself on the table tennis scene and win medals and that’s what I did. I am in good shape at the moment, still some small preparations to go before the start of the tournament but we will be ready to give our all.”

  • I was just unlucky against Assar, says Quadri

    I was just unlucky against Assar, says Quadri

    After a narrow loss in the final of the 2018 ITTF, Africa Top 16 Cup, Aruna Quadri has praised the heroic performance of Egypt’s Omar Assar.

    He however said  that the Egyptian was lucky to have won the title.

    Quadri who rallied from 3-1 down to level at 3-3 and only to lose the seventh game in keenly contested tie told NationSport that it was obvious that the match would have gone either way but said that he gave his best in the tournament.

    “I think I am happy with my performance because I know that it is not every time you have to win. You win some and you lose some but I must commend myself for making it to the final and this goes to show that I performed well. The final was indeed an epic one because Assar and I really gave our best. It was unfortunate I had to lose having come from the back to level up the match. As usual I will have to redouble my efforts again,” he said.

    Quadri however urged government to support other sports rather than focus solely on football.

    “I am just going to appeal to those in charge of sports in Nigeria to give sport like table tennis the needed support rather than spending the whole tax-payers money on football. It is unfortunate that most African nations never considered other sports and when it comes to multi-sports tournament they will be expecting the athletes to perform magic with less support,” he lamented.

    As part of his build up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Quadri on Sunday departed Kenya to Qatar for the second ITTF World Tour in 2018.

    The Portugal-based star is expected to contest for honours against the array of stars already confirmed for the mouth-watering tournament holding in Doha from Tuesday March 5.

  • Is This Gov. Fayose’s Youth Sport Development Plan?

    Is This Gov. Fayose’s Youth Sport Development Plan?

    The Special Adviser, Public Communications and New Media at Ekiti State Government of Nigeria, Lere Olayinka on Monday shared about 16 pictures of Governor Ayodele Fayose, playing the ping-pong game, popularly called table tennis, at one of the remote streets in Ado-Ekiti; the state capital.

    The Governor was practically showing his skills as ‘Oba Pako’ in the game, as he could not mind playing with a rickety bat made of plank and robber, on a very funny table which has two containers (Gorodom; as popular called in the local yoruba palance) as base.

    The Governor was practically sweating it out with kids at Ekute Street and he did his best to show his skills in the game on that Sunday Evening.  The Obvious is that Nigerian kids like tennis just like they throng for football and they play it always- if not every evening on week-days or at weekends.

    It will not be inappropriate to say that the Governor also played the game on the street while growing up and it appeared it is hard for him to let go,  inspite of his age, political and socio-economic status.

    Gov. Fayose in action during the table tennis games he played with the kids on Sunday

    As much as a lot of people in Ekiti state and on the social media expressed likeness towards the Fayose’s gesture in identify with the street life and sports despite being the number one citizen in the state, the gesture has however some questions and criticisms.

    “Is there anything wrong if the governor used his office to initiate a state developmental campaign on grassroots sport and table tenni?”

    “I am proud of my Governor,,,, I like his street vibes.,” said another person(Name withheld) in an online post, but he added that “How i wish this Governor can understand that sport is now a big business with many transforming and socio-economic benefits for the state.”

    In another comment somebody said, “Feel the pulse of the youths Mr. Gov and don’t use them to while away of your own time,”

    Governor Fayose while playing the table tennis game with one of the kids on the street

    “Gov. please give youth sport development a priority and you will tame restiveness and checkmate unemployment and attracts renowed sport investors to the state,” said another facebook user.

    Denasohin Simeon Sonayon on his own comment said “All works without play make Jack a dull Boy! I belief he(Fayose) did it at his leisure hour.” And Saheed Adeyeni wrote, “I Just love this man…. So down to the earth.”

    People’s post on the picture also generated some personal comments from journalists in the newsroom.

    “The world would have reckoned more that Nigeria is a hub for sport talents, if only sports in the grassroot could be given the right attention by government and talent hunt stakeholders in Nigeria states,” said a sport journalist who shared view on the picture (Name withheld)

    “Are our leaders truly love their grassroots,,, because it is not by going down on the street to while away your time but by realizing that investing in sport is key for community development.’

    “The Governor is closer to the people, that is his natural self,” said Akintona Akin “but sincerity is key and knowing the right thing to do.”

  • Table Tennis: Oyebode explains why he chose Italy over Nigeria

    Table Tennis: Oyebode explains why he chose Italy over Nigeria

    Nigerian-born Italian table tennis player, John Oyebode, says his decision to play for Italy is to associate himself with the numerous opportunities available in the Italian table tennis circuit.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Oyebode is representing Italy in the ongoing “Seamaster ITTF Challenge Nigeria Open, holding at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Sports Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

    Oyebode, who claimed two gold medals in the Cadet event of the 2017 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Italian Junior and Cadet Open, told NAN that his decision was already yielding results.

    “I believe that playing for Italy is the right choice for me and I don’t have any regrets about it so far.

    “The system over there supports players in all areas and gives room for development in both sports and education.

    “Also, there is regular sponsorship to go for training tours and participate in major international competitions to enhance players skills and welfare and many more benefits too numerous to mention,’’ the 15-year-old said.

    Oyebode, whose father, Michael was part of the Nigerian coaching crew to the Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil, told NAN that his aspiration is to be among the top 10 players in the world.

    On the ongoing Challenge, the player said the event had been competitive so far due to the number of players and countries taking part.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that 95 male and 55 female players are participating in the 46,000 dollars prize money ITTF Challenge.

    Olar Benedek of Finland and Shao Jieni of Portugal won the 2016 men’s and women’s singles event respectively.

    The competition which served-off on Aug. 9 will be concluded on Aug. 13.

  • Toriola gallantly bows out in table tennis

    Toriola gallantly bows out in table tennis

    Africa’s record making athlete, Nigeria’s Segun Toriola yesterday bowed out gallantly from the men’s singles event of table tennis at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

    Toriola, who made his seventh appearance at the Olympic Games as the first African to achieve such feat fought hard against world number 22, Japan’s Koki Niwa but the young Asian was made to work hard for his victory against the veteran.

    To exit the competition, Toriola fell 11-9, 5-11, 7-11, 11-4, 6-11, 1-11 (4-2) to the Japanese star.

    Prior to his second round encounter against the Japanese, Toriola had caused an upset in the first round when he bundled out Czech Republic’s Dimitrij Prokopcov.

    Playing against a higher ranked Prokopcov in the first round of the Men’s Singles event, the 120 ranked African legend pulled off an impressive performance, his opponent 4-2 (8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8) to end the Czech’s Olympic dream in Rio.

    The 41 year-old Toriola, whose seventh Olympic Games appearance equals the table tennis record and makes him the most capped African Olympian said: “I’ve played him in the French League three times and I’ve lost every time. Today I felt confident before the match, I played without any fear. My first attack was strong and he made mistakes, the main problem for me was that I made mistakes when playing short.”

    In the women’s singles event, it was not a good day for Nigeria’s duo of Olufunke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong as they were shown the exit in the first round.

    In the preliminary round, it was an easy win for Edem Offiong who walloped Fiji’s Sally Yee 4-0 (11-3, 11-8, 11-3, 11-2).

    Despite recording a 4-3 win, Olufunke Oshonaike would not forget in a hurry what nearly caused her an early exit as she squandered a 3-1 lead and it took experience for her to overcome Lebanon’s Mariana Sahakian  with a 4-3 (8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8).

    In the first round, Olufunke Oshonaike fell to Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz 4-2, while Edem Offiong was edged out by Belarus’ PAVLOVICH Viktoria 4-1.

    Olufunke Oshonaike, who was Team Nigeria’s flagbearer during the opening ceremony admitted after managing to win her preliminary match that, ‘I’m so tired, I don’t know where I am. I didn’t get to bed until after 2.00am this morning, I feel like a bomb has hit me. Experience got me through today. I could not focus, I could not concentrate but I carried the Nigerian flag, I am through to the first round, I’m so happy!”

  • Nigeria premier lotto: ITTF promises fierce competition in Lagos

    From the 81 players from 11 countries that featured in the 2015 ITTF Nigeria Open, this year’s edition has set another record in the entries as 122 players from 16 nations will be competing for the $46,000 prize money at stake.

    Beginning from May 18 to 22 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, Lagos, players will be aiming for ranking points and targeting places at the end-of-year World Tour finals.

    Attesting to impressive entries for the Premier Lotto-sponsored Nigeria Open, Competition Manager, Mohamed Dawlatly believes the turnout would surely add glamour to the championship.

    “Although it might not be as high as the organizers wanted, but still, it’s better from last year as we now have 122 players from 16 countries compared to 81 players from 11 countries in 2015 which means players are now more interested to attend this important event. Following the last year’s event, I’m expecting some high level of Table Tennis especially with the increase of entries and also with the importance of the event in Nigeria, which can be felt from care and follow-up of the organizers trying to make sure that everything is covered and presented in its best way,” Dawlatly said.

    On his expectations, he said: “As I had mentioned, I’m expecting a high level of competition with the players from 16 countries and also the big number of Nigerian players which we all know how strong and competitive they are.

    “I know that it’s well organized from the Nigeria TTA trying to provide the best possible condition for the player, also I know that Nigerian spectators are very active and loves to support their players, actually I was told by our Marketing Director who attended the last year’s WT that the atmosphere was one of the best he attended in the last years with many spectators excited and supporting their players,” he added.

    Being his first trip, Dawlatly said: “Well, it’s always exciting to visit new countries all over the world and Nigeria is a very special destination for me as a former Egyptian player as we all know that Nigeria and Egypt were and still the top two countries fighting for the African Gold Medals

    One the impact of the presence of European players, he explained: “For sure this is a very good step forward to have those top European countries coming to Lagos for this year’s WT which mean that they followed last years and they feel that it would help them to attend such event, it also helps the event exposure inside Nigeria and World Wide that might help to attract more countries next year and finally it will definitely help those new Nigerian players participating in the event.”

  • Nigeria, Egypt rivalry in table tennis healthy for Africa – ETTF boss

    The continued rivalry between Nigeria and Egypt in table tennis has been described as healthy for the continent.

    According to the President, Egypt Table Tennis Federation (ETTF), Alaa Meshref, the rivalry between the West and North African giants could be dated back to the 70s with Nigeria dominating Egypt in all tournaments.

    However, the resurgence of Egypt in recent times may have halted the supremacy of Nigeria in Africa.

    “I think the competition between the two countries – Nigeria and Egypt has passed through stages. In the era of the 70s till 90s, Nigeria’s dominance was clear and this was not healthy then. When Egypt started to pick up, Nigeria seemed to slow down and this made Egyptian dominance happen lately. With the wonderful results of Aruna Quadri, rivalry and competition re-started and this competition between Egypt and Nigeria has caused both countries to seek improvement of their game and players. It was very healthy for Africa. But we need more competition in the women event too,” the acting Vice President of Egypt Olympic Committee (EOC) said.

    For other countries in Africa to break the dominance of Egypt and Nigeria, Meshref said: “I think that it will take some time for other countries to catch up with Nigeria and Egypt, as we are progressing rapidly and this is widening the gap. I hope they catch up and we don’t lose grounds.”

    He, however, charged African countries to make it to the forthcoming World Junior Championship in South Africa, saying that for such tournament to be staged in the continent, adding that this should give teams the chance to be part of it. “I hope that African countries do not apologise from this tournament as usual because it is a pity to fight for three slots and then no team shows up. Being in Africa should help African countries to participate.

  • China retains ITTF World Team Championships titles

    China retains ITTF World Team Championships titles

    As the best table tennis playing nation in the world, China confirmed her supremacy globally after winning the men and women event of the ITTF World Team Championships concluded on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
    The final match played at the venue of the eight-day tournament in Shah Alam Stadium witnessed presence of fans from Japan and China who were dressed in either red or white shirts.
    The fans raised the roof when one of their adored heroines drew breath and hit a ball.
    The task for Japan in such a cauldron of noise, one where Japanese voices were reduced to a quiet whisper, was equivalent to King Canute trying to hold back the incoming tide.
    Though China was favored, Kong Linghui, the Head Coach of women team, was took no chances.
    At the semi-final stage against Chinese Taipei, he had selected one of the new age players in the guise of Zhu Yuling. The 21 year old is currently listed at no.3 on the Women’s World Rankings.
    However, true to the best traditions Chinese thinking, the mastermind selected Liu Shiwen, Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia; all players who had previously experienced a Women’s World Championships Team final.
    Notably, Kong Linghui gave Liu Shiwen, the position of responsibility; she was the first player in action for China. Liu Shiwen emerged victorious 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 over Japan’s Ai Fukuhara.
    In the second match involving Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa and China’s Li Xiaoxia, it was the Chinese that laughed last after being trailed by 2-0 but this did not have great effect as Xiaoxia secured victory (6-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-5).
    A hard fought task, equally in the contest that concluded proceedings, there were some testing times for Ding Ning against Mima Ito who continues amaze; the 15 year old won the first game before the reigning World Champion responded to exert her authority on proceedings (8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-1).
    Once again the Corbillon Cup was held aloft by China with Li Xiaoxia gaining the award for being the most valuable player of all. It was the 13th appearance for Japan in the final of a Women’s Team event at a World Championships, the fifth time they had been runners up.
    For China it was the 20th time they had secured the title in 25 final visits.
    Also in the men, Chinese trio of Xu Xin, Ma Long and Zhan Jike defeated Japan’s Mizutani Jun, Yoshimura Maharu and Oshima Yuya to claim the title for the Asian giant.

  • ITTF : Nigeria maintains status as China, Japan battle for title

    ITTF : Nigeria maintains status as China, Japan battle for title

    Despite not being able to gain promotion to the Championship Division, Nigeria maintained its status in Division Two as China and Japan battle for title in the finals of the men and women events of the ITTF World Team Championships.
    For making it to the quarterfinal round, Nigeria finished eighth in Division Two and 29th place in the world at this year’s tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
    For making it the semifinal stage, Egypt is now ranked ahead of Nigeria in the men’s team event while the North African team occupies 27th place in the ranking.
    However, the race for Africa’s sole slot in the men’s team event of the Rio Olympic Games continues as Nigeria and Egypt will be hoping to garner points from various tournaments across the globe.
    After seven days of competitive action, the eight-day tournament reaches its climax on Saturday as two Asian giants – China and Japan battle for the titles.
    To make it to the final in the men’s event, China, the number four seeds, beat South Korea, the number three seeds, 3-0 at the semi-final stage with the trio of Ma Long, Xu Xin and Zhang Jike overcoming Korea’s Lee Sangsu, Jung Youngsik and Jang Woojin to set up a final clash against Japan, who edged out surprised semifinalist – England 3-2 in the second semifinal tie.
    Against Korea, it was Xu Xin that gave China the perfect start by beating Lee Sangsu (8-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-5); he was followed by Ma Long who accounted for Jung Youngsik (11-7, 11-5, 11-8) with Zhang Jike overcoming Jang Woojin (7-11, 11-4, 11-9, 12-10) to end matters.
    In the battle for the women title, China will be making its 25th final in its 30th appearances that China has reached the final of the Women’s Team event at a World Championships.
    They made their debut in 1953 in Bucharest finishing in seventh place. The Chinese team defeated Chinese Taipei while Japan also edged out Korea DPR to make it an Asian affair.