The Nation Newspaper

Tag: table tennis

  • Table tennis fans applaud Quadri’s feat at German open

    Table tennis fans applaud Quadri’s feat at German open

    Table tennis fans on Friday applauded Aruna Quadri’s upset achieved at the ongoing International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world tour tagged “German Open’’.

    Unseeded Quadri upset Germany’s Par Gerell, ranked 30 in the world by ITTF 15-13, 9-11, 9-11, 11-3, 9-11, 2-11 (4-2) to make it into the main draw.

    The fans told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that it was a good way to make the main draw.

    NTTF’s Technical Director, Anderson Bankole urged Quadri to maintain the momentum with which he served off the competition.

    Bankole said that he started well and that it was essential to maintain the win syndrome.

    “I must confess that I am impressed by his opening match. He wore a fighting spirit and that’s one thing that’s synonymous with him.

    “I want him to be focused all through the competition and play all matches cautiously as they come.

    “With rapt concentration, he has what it takes to conquer everyone at the competition. Yes everyone came with the mind of wining but he should be focused,’’ Bankole said.

    Ojo Onaolapo advised his compatriot to use his experience in the sport to overcome every opposition at the tournament.

    He urged him to switch his style of play as often as possible.

    “I wouldn’t advise him to maintain a particular style of play. He should deviate as many times as possible.

    “He is a player that many are watching out for and wants to down play. I am sure they would have watched video clips of him while playing.

    “Quadri should play to surprise his opponents by displaying styles that will be strange to them,” Onaolapo said.

    In the same vein, a female player, Tosin Oribamise said that Quadri should play more of attacks than defence.

    “This will confuse his opponents and work in his favour.

    “I know Quadri as a good player that knows his onions, should play more of attacks,“ she said.

    NAN reports that Quadri was the first player to make it into the main draw.

    The competition served off on Jan. 27 and would end on Jan. 31, in Berlin, Germany.

  • ITTF World Tour: Quadri, Assar lead African stars to German Open

    ITTF World Tour: Quadri, Assar lead African stars to German Open

    • Joola gets German coach for Nigerian

    Africa’s best table tennis players, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Egypt’s Omar Assar will lead 15 other African players to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour tagged German Open holding in Berlin from January 27 to 31.

    As the first Super series among the six in the ITTF World calendar, the German Open boasts $120,000 prize money with some of the world’s best including world number one, China’s Ma Long will be competing at the five-day tournament.

    Also to ensure that Aruna Quadri has a good outing in the competition, table tennis kits firm, Joola has engaged the services of former German coach, Martin Aldomeit, who handled the 2014 ITTF Star Player at the 2014 World Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany.

    Unlike the Major and Challenge series where players will compete from the group to qualify to the main draw, German Open is staged in a knockout format.

    Also only the top 16 in the world are seeded for the tournament with over 200 players competing for the 48 slots in the main draw of the men’s singles.

    Quadri, who recently made it to the last eight of the Hungarian Open is in fine shape for the tournament and he will also partner compatriot, Bode Abiodun in the doubles and they will be hoping for good outing just like they got to quarterfinal at the Hungarian Open in Budapest.

    Egypt has the largest number of players from Africa competing at the German Open with Omar Assar be joined by veterans like El-Sayed Lashin and Ahmed Saleh as well as Mohammed El-Beiali and Khalid Assar.

    Algeria will be led by Sami Kherouf and he will be joined by three other male players while Islem Laid will champion the female campaign for the North Africa.

    The best female player in Africa, Egypt’s Dina Meshref will lead other three players in the women’s singles and she will be hoping to better her first round exit at the Hungarian Open.

    In the draw conducted yesterday by the organisers, Nigeria’s Abiodun will begin his campaign against France’s Romain Lorentz, while Quadri will begin his battle from the second round against Chinese Taipei’s Chia-Shengto Lee.

    Meanwhile, many of the top players will be seeking to repeat previous triumphs they have had at the German Open.

    The names of the players in question are China’s Ma Long, the host nation’s Timo Boll and Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus. Furthermore, Dimitrij Ovtcharov can be added to the list as well as China’s Zhang Jike; all are previous winners

  • Africa Para Table Tennis Championship: Obiora, Koleosho qualify for Rio 2016 Paralympics Games

    Africa Para Table Tennis Championship: Obiora, Koleosho qualify for Rio 2016 Paralympics Games

     

    Nigeria’s Ahmed Owolabi Koleosho and Chinenye Obiora have joined the list of athletes that will compete in the para table tennis event at the Rio 2016 Paralympics Games.

    Obiora was unbeaten in the women’s singles class 1-5 to emerge as winner ahead of players from Morocco and South Africa. The winner in each category gets an automatic ticket to the Paralympics Games.

    Unlike Obiora, Koleosho had to cause an upset to book his place at the Paralympics Games.  He accounted for Egypt’s Aly Mohamen Nasr, the top seed, in the final of Class 1-3 (11-8, 11-6, 11-7).

    An excited Koleosho said: “It is great to win when I was the second seed in the competition, it is a great step for me, I trained hard for this and I listened to every word my coach said. I practice for about four hours per day, in the final I was playing against a champion who is a very experienced player; I am new to the game, I only started to play in 2013.”

    The Nigerian admitted that the experience he garnered during the Morocco Open aided his success at the African Championship.  It is very big for me to qualify for the Paralympics; playing in the Morocco Open has really helped me improve, I lost to Welder Knaf from Brazil, he is very experienced but I learned a great deal by playing against him”, added Koleosho. “After the match he talked to me after little things which improved my game; before the tournaments in Agadir, we prepared in Nigeria against different players with various styles, this helped.”

    However, the duo of Francis Chukwuemeka and Emmanuel Chinedu Nick were unlucky in their categories as they failed to qualify for the Paralympics Games.

    Meanwhile, the President of African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy described the tournament as competitive. The standard is quite good due to the participation of the top teams like Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa and the competition was quite fierce when during the semi-finals and final rounds to decide the winners and qualifiers,” the ATTF boss said.

  • Congo overtakes Nigeria, Egypt in table tennis doubles

    Hosts of the 11th African Games, Congo is currently topping the medals table in table tennis event of the Games.

    Nigeria and Egypt, which used to alternate leadership in the doubles event, were upstaged by Congo the new rising force in the sport.

    The Congolese are currently parading some of their adopted Chinese players that have won all the doubles events, where Nigeria and Egypt held sway in the past.

    Congo won the mixed doubles with the duo of Wang Jinan and Yuheng Li. They also won in men and women’s doubles. Han Xing and Li defeated Egypt duo of Dina Meshref and Nadeen El-Dawlatly, 3-2 while the pair of Hu Bin and Wang Jinan defeated their Egyptian opponents.

    An elated Li said told newsmen after the match having beaten some of the continent’s top players she could sleep very well.

    “I am so happy and I am sure I can sleep very well tonight. Having played against top teams from the quarter-final stage, the final was not that easy.

    “It was a very difficult match and I am happy that I am picking my second gold medal at the African Games. I am now relaxed to play in the singles as I am not familiar with some of the top players in this competition,” she said.

    However, Xing, admitted that it was difficult playing African players. “I had many problems playing well in the team event because I was a bit nervous.

    “But in the doubles, my partner really gave me confidence, while our coach was always urging us to go on. This really helped us and I am now gaining my confidence back. I hope I can reproduce the performance in the singles.

    “I am looking forward to becoming the new champion of the African Games,” he said.

    Team Nigeria won gold medal in men’s team event, while Egypt also won gold medal in the women’s team event. The events has entered the round of 16 in women’s category, and the round of 32 in the men’s events.

    The final of the singles would be played today.

  • Table Tennis: Egypt retains women’s team title

    Table Tennis: Egypt retains women’s team title

    … As Nigeria reclaims men’s throne

    Just like it happened in 2011, it occurred at the weekend with Egypt retaining the title in the women’s team event of table tennis at the 2015 African Games in Congo Brazzaville.

    It was with much efforts and tactical discipline that Egypt used to defeat Nigeria to hold on to the laurel in the female event.

    Two wins from Dina Meshref and a win from Nadeen El-Dawlatly salvaged the victory for Egypt in an epic final that ended 3-2 in favour of the North African.

    Also, veteran Segun Toriola turned back the clock when he recorded an emphatic victory over Mohamed El-Beiali and Omar Assar to help Nigeria reclaimed the men’s team throne ahead of the North African. Since the tournament began, Toriola remained unbeaten with this needed victory for Nigeria.

    “This is not the first time I will be playing the deciding match but my coach told me to concentrate. But I must say it was more difficult for me in the match. I remained focus and I am happy that I won the match for my country. I feel good winning the title against and I am now strong mentally,” said elated EL-DAWLATLY Nadeen.

    Meshref Dina added: “I am very proud that we won the title this year because looking at the roll of honours, Nigeria has won the African Games title more than any country in Africa. So I am very happy that we were able to retain the title we won four years ago in Mozambique. This goes to show the Egypt is improving and our generation has really worked hard for this success.”

    On the victory over Egypt, Toriola said: “I think the competition just started with this victory because we still have five medals to fight four. But prior to the match I told my teammates that we should have confidence even when we were down 2-1 in major. I knew that if I had to beat Omar Assar I need to be confidence and not to play with any caution. If I am too conscious I will make mistakes against Omar. I think it was the confidence in the team that gave us the victory.”

    For the 2014 ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri, it was a sweet victory. “In our last meetings he defeated me but I could remember that I had also beaten him twice. But today I found answer to him because we play same style and he believes my style suits him. I am so grateful to God that I was able to find answer to Mohammed El-Beiali tonight. This is a big victory for after our women team narrowly lost to Egypt earlier,” Quadri said.

  • Table Tennis gold medal, a promise fulfilled – Oshodi

    Table Tennis gold medal, a promise fulfilled – Oshodi

    The President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, Enitan Waheed Oshodi says the victory over the Egyptian table tennis male team Sunday night was a dream come true.

    The Nigeria male table tennis team defeated their Egyptian counterpart 3-2 to clinch the gold medal at stake in the final watched by the DG NSC Mallam Al Hassan Yakmut, NOC President, Engineer Habu Gumel, Acting Chief de Mission, Peter Nelson  and  the Nigeria Tennis Federation boss, Engineer Sanni Ndanusa.

    Oshodi in a chat with SportingLife after the medal presentation at the Revolution Sports Complex ,Brazza having expressed his happinnes commended the players led by Segun Toriola described the effort of the team as awesome.

    According to an elated Oshodi, “When we came in board as NTTF, we promised that in two years I will regain the medal from Egypt and now it has happened, we have fulfilled our promise.You gave it to the boys Toriola and Quadri, they played wonderfully well to the admiration of everybody here, I think this was great”, he said.

    The former commissioner for Sport in Lagos continued,  “well, its not over yet because there are still five medals in the event and I hope to at least pick three more. We won’t allow this get into our head,the players return to training almost immediately so that our mission would be achieved.”

    Action resumes in the Male and female singles,doubles for male and female mixed doubles today at the same venue.

  • AAG: Egypt, Nigeria win table tennis team titles

    AAG: Egypt, Nigeria win table tennis team titles

    Just like in 2011, Egypt over the weekend retained the title in the women’s team event of table tennis at the 2015 African Games in Congo Brazzaville.

    It was with much efforts and tactical discipline that Egypt defeated Nigeria to hold on to the gold medal in the female event.

    Two wins from Dina Meshref and a win from Nadeen El-Dawlatly salvaged the victory for Egypt in an epic final that ended 3-2 in favour of the North African.

    Also, veteran Segun Toriola turned back the clock when he recorded an emphatic victory over Mohamed El-Beiali and Omar Assar to help Nigeria reclaim the men’s team throne ahead of the North African. Since the tournament began, Toriola remained unbeaten with this needed victory for Nigeria.

    “This is not the first time I will be playing the deciding match but my coach told me to concentrate. But I must say it was more difficult for me in the match. I remained focused and I am happy that I won the match for my country. I feel good winning the title again and I am now strong mentally,” said elated EL-DAWLATLY Nadeen.

    [ad id=”403656″]Meshref Dina added: “I am very proud that we won the title this year because looking at the roll of honours, Nigeria has won the African Games title more than any country in Africa. So I am very happy that we were able to retain the title we won four years ago in Mozambique. This goes to show the Egypt is improving and our generation has really worked hard for this success.”

    On the victory over Egypt, Toriola said: “I think the competition just started with this victory because we still have five medals to fight four. But prior to the match, I told my teammates that we should have confidence even when we were down 2-1 in major. I knew that if I had to beat Omar Assar, I need to be confidence and not to play with any caution. If I am too conscious I will make mistakes against Omar. I think it was the confidence in the team that gave us the victory.”

    For the 2014 ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri, it was a sweet victory. “In our last meetings he defeated me but I could remember that I had also beaten him twice. But today I found answer to him because we play same style and he believes my style suits him. I am so grateful to God that I was able to find answer to Mohammed El-Beiali tonight. This is a big victory for after our women team narrowly lost to Egypt earlier,” Quadri said.

  • AAG: Nigeria to battle Egypt for T/Tennis gold

    The rivalry between Nigeria and Egypt will resurface again in Brazzaville as the two best table tennis playing nations clash in the final of the team events at the ongoing 11th African Games in Congo Brazzaville.
    In the men’s event, Nigeria’s team was on Saturday merciless against Ghana as they rattled their West African neighbor 3-0 in the semifinal to set up a battle against Egypt in the final.
    In the women’s event, Nigerian ladies dazed host team Congo Brazzaville 3-0 to secure their place in the final. They will now face Egypt who had earlier defeated Algeria in the second semifinal.
    Acknowledging the superiority of Nigeria, Ghana’s Bernard Sam said: “It was not an easy match against Nigeria because they are very experienced and it really showed in the match. We had thought we could do what we did to Congo Brazzaville against them but before we reaised it was 2-0. We then knew that they are superior to us. We hope Nigeria win the gold being our brother from the West.”
    Also, Sam’s compatriot, Derek Abreka said: “For me playing against Aruna was a good experience for me because his balls are very powerful and I can now say that Aruna is a great player. This is the second time I would be playing against him as the first was in Congo DRC in 2008 where he defeated me 3-1. His forehand is very powerful and his shots are superb. I look forward to him winning the singles.
    However, Nigeria’s Seun Ajetunmobi believes Nigeria would be unstoppable in the final. “I feel good since the commencement of the tournament although we are yet to play any tough match. We really prepared very well for this competition and we hope that we can crown it up with victory against any team in the final. We are aware that the final will be tough and we are battle ready for it. I believe Nigeria will surprise everybody in this competition,” Ajetunmobi admits.

  • AAG: Nigeria hits quarterfinal in table tennis

    AAG: Nigeria hits quarterfinal in table tennis

    Nigeria men and women teams did not drop a match at the ongoing 2015 African Games to qualify for the quarterfinal round of the team event in table tennis.

    From the start, the male team took every match serious by ensuring that they defeated their opponents with same margin of 3-0. Four teams – Tunisia, Botswana, Namibia and Sudan were drawn with Nigeria in group two and true to their rating, the team completed the rout of all the four teams with an emphatic 3-0 bashing of Tunisia to top the group.

    Also, the women team led by veteran, Olufunke Oshonaike took a cue from their male counterpart when they hammered Botswana and Mauritius 3-0 to top the group and berth in the last eight of the championship.

    Debutant Ojo Onaolapo told NationSport Friday that he is happy making his final debut at the games but admitted that the best matches are yet to start. “I am happy that I have finally made my debut at the games and I am happy being part of the team’s qualification for the quarterfinal. But I must admit that the best matches are yet to start because when it gets to semifinal where Nigeria may likely face Egypt or Congo Brazzaville, that is when we will start feeling the competition. For now, we are just warming up for the big matches,” Onaolapo said.

    Like Onaolapo, another debutant, Rashidat Ogundele described her experience at the games as challenging as she is hoping to make podium in her first outing at the games.

    However, players from Uganda and Angola are being encouraged to aim high with the performance display by Oshonaike.

    Uganda’s Amina Kibone told NationSport that she is impressed that despite her age, Oshonaike still plays good than other younger players. “I thought I was too old at 23 to play table tennis but when I saw Oshonaike, I now know that I am still young to play. I am really encouraged by her performance,” she said.

    Ruth Alvares and Isabel Albino are fascinated by the style of play of Oshonaike whom they described as a legend of the game.

     

  • German coach takes over Nigeria table tennis

    German coach takes over Nigeria table tennis

    Former German national coach, Martin Adomeit will take charge of the Nigeria table tennis team to the 2015 African Games in Congo Brazzaville.

    The coach, who will act as the technical adviser, was hired through the financial support of the National Sports Commission (NSC).

    The German tactician guided Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri to the quarterfinal stage of the 2014 ITTF World Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany and he is expected to arrive Nigeria this week to start working with the team in readiness for the games.

    From 1978 to 1980 Martin Adomeit worked at youth level of clubs with Germany-based Soest TV and TuS Ampen. In 1981 he joined the TuS Jahn Soest and was part of the technical crew of the team’s female team in the Bundesliga League and in 1984, he took over as coach of the women’s team of the club. He also served from 1988 to 1997 as honourary coach of the West German Table Tennis Association (WTTA).

    In 1996, he was appointed as an assistant coach by the German Table Tennis Association DTTB and in 1997 he ended all previous activities at club levels and took over the post of national coach of the German female team.

    Under his tutelage, the German women’s team won three consecutive times the European League as well as winner of the 1998 and 1999 European Ladies Team Championship while in 2000, the team won silver.

    For this feat, the Association of German Table Tennis Coaches named Adomeit as the coach of the year in 1999.

    After the poor outing of the German team at the 2000 ITTF World Cup, Adomeit stepped down and was replaced by Richard Prause as women’s coach. Adomeit now assumed responsibility for the female junior team.

    From August 2004 to April 2007, Adomeit worked as coach and sporting director in Luxembourg while he also handled the Belgium national team from 2008 to 2010.

    From 2010, he has been working as Independent coach in camps for players and coaches for the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) and ITTF, German Organising Committee (OC), coach education in Germany as well as personal coach to top players across the globe.

    The 51-year-old Dortmund-born tactician is a licensed coach, who studied at the German Sport University in Cologne.