Monthly Archives: April 2022

Following the decision by the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) to award the host right of the 2022 World Championships regional qualification, African Club Championships, and African Cup to Lagos State, the chairman of the Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC) Sola Aiyepeku has said the aquatic city is ready to stage a befitting tournament in line with the ideals of becoming the continent’s sports hub.

Aiyepeku who is also a member of the ATTF-appointed Main Organising Committee (MOC) believes the state would continue to impress the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) by raising the standard of its competition annually.

“We are an experienced state having staged several international tournaments in the past and this has encouraged the ITTF and ATTF to see the state as the qualified city for this year’s tournament. For nine days, we will have the best players across Africa coming to Lagos to compete as well as enjoy the hospitality of the good people of Lagos,” he said.

Aiyepeku said Lagos has become the home of table tennis in Africa, especially with the quality of organization the state has put up in the past events. “Apart from the organization which is always top-notch, the enthusiasm of fans that most times thronged the venue to watch the stars showcasing their talents has made the state a place to be for major sporting events. We have the personnel as well as the infrastructure to host the event and we hope that we can continue to raise the bar in Africa, we believe that all our visitors will enjoy the tourism potential of the state even as they are coming to compete in tournaments,” he added.

From May 19 to 28, the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium will host the three tournaments with the World Championships regional qualification for West African teams kick-starting the tournament on May 19 to 21 while the African Club Championships follow on May 23 to 25. The African Cup which is a singles tournament will climax the event on May 26 to 28.

For the African Cup, each participating country will nominate two players each in men’s and women’s events while the host country will nominate four players each for the tournament.

The nine-man MOC will be chaired by ITTF Vice President, Wahid Oshodi and he will be assisted by the President of Cote d’Ivoire Table Tennis Federation, Prof. Alfred Germain Karou.

Nigeria’s aquatic city and the commercial nerve center of Nigeria, Lagos has been chosen by the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) as the host of the World Championships regional qualification, African Club Championships, and African Cup.

The three tournaments start from May 19 to 28 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.

The World Championships regional qualification for West Africa teams will kick-start the tournament on May 19 to 21 while the African Club Championships follow on May 23 to 25. The African Cup which is a singles tournament will climax the event on May 26 to 28.

According to the President of ATTF, Khaled El-Salhy, the choice of Lagos was based on the remarkable organization of previous tournaments coupled with the positive comments from players, coaches, and participating teams.

“Lagos has the best bid to host the African Cup in 2022 together with the African Clubs, as ATTF is always satisfied with the remarkable organization in Lagos coupled with full capacity of spectators in the venue throughout any major competition,” he said.

The ATTF boss said the African Cup would now be a continental qualification for WTT Cup Finals. “The new thing is that the ITTF World Cup may not be held this year and the other option will be the WTT Cup Finals which will include the same policy that continental cup winners will represent each continent.”

All the top players in Africa are expected in Lagos for the African Cup as Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh and Dina Meshref are expected to defend their titles against the best players in Africa at the three-day tournament at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.

“All top players will be competing for the Cup, while they will be aiming for ranking points as well as qualification to represent Africa at WTT Cup Finals taking place later in the year,” he added.

For the African Cup, each participating country will nominate two players each in men’s and women’s events while the host country will nominate four players each for the cup.

Meanwhile, a nine-man Main Organising Committee (MOC) has been approved by the continental ruling body with Wahid Oshodi chairing the committee. President of Cote D’ivoire Table Tennis Federation, Prof. Alfred Germain Karou will deputise Oshodi in the MOC.

Other members include the Executive Chairman of Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC) Sola Aiyepeku, Dr. Adesoji Tayo, Kweku Tandor, and, Mokhtar Toukabri of Tunisia.

The world of table tennis was thrilled with players around the globe participating in WTT Star Contender Doha 2022.

The focus of this post is on the Chinese players who participated. The world of table tennis is used to Chinese players winning tournaments they participate in, however, the WTT Star Contender Doha 2022 was a different story.

The Chinese paraded what one could term as their team B. Per the standards of the Chinese national team their players are not to lose to the rest of the world.

With this philosophy in mind, players from China are difficult to beat in competitions. The task of the second string team was to demonstrate their ability in dominating the rest of the world. The first male team has two aging players, Ma Long and Xu Xin. The female team on the other hand would dominate the rest of the world for a decade to come.

With the Chinese identifying the need to have credible replacements for Ma Long and Xu Xin, the second-string team was given the opportunity to prove themselves against the rest of the world only for them to falter. Aruna Quadri took care of three of the male players en route to the semifinals, which was unprecedented and a record-breaking endeavor and as the only African to have qualified to the semifinals of such a major tournament.

The question to my readers is should the Chinese be worried about the performance in this tournament or it should be brushed aside as a minor setback?

Should the likes of Ma Long and Xu Xin be encouraged to continue playing in all events as it’s normal to find players in the rest of the world competition well into their late thirties?

Congratulations to all the winners in Doha. Till I come your way with another post I would like to say keep safe, and be positive.

Despite losing the semifinal match to South Korea’s Lim Jonghoon, Quadri Aruna has garnered over 210 ranking points at the just concluded World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Doha.

The Nigerian who set a new African record as the first player from the continent to make it to the semifinal of the WTT Star Contender also became the first player in the world to defeat three top Chinese players in a row to book a place in the last four. For making it to the last four, Aruna will get 210 ranking points to shore up in his bid to hit the top 10 in the world.

But on Thursday at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar, Aruna could not demystify his Korean opponent in the semifinal match as the Nigerian fell 4-2 to his Asian counterpart to miss out on setting another African record

Jonghoon took a 2-1 lead over Aruna in three closely fought games. Aruna was first out the gate and had chances to take the second game but the Korean took a grip on the match. In head-to-head encounters, Jonhhoon leads Aruna 2-0, but the Nigerian will try to come up with something different to score his first win in Qatar.

In spite of going down 3-1 to the Korean, Aruna took the fifth game 12-10 and clawed his way back to 2-3 but Jonghoon maintained his perfect record against Aruna with a 4-2 (8-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-1, 10-12, 11-5) win, putting an end to the Nigerian’s epic run in Doha. The 25-year-old World No.47 was beaten 4-2 in the final by Croatia’s Andrej Gacina later yesterday.

A satisfied Aruna expressed happiness over his performance in Qatar having lost early in the WTT Contender earlier this month. “I want to thank all my fans across the globe for their support and I hope to continue to work harder so that I can continue to make them happy. I think it was not my day today but I hope to be back again on a big stage like this. I thank the organizers for creating a conducive environment for us to showcase our talents. I will return to training with the aim of doing better in the next tournament,” Aruna said.