The battle for podium finish among the top seeds will begin on Thursday, April 25, at the 4th Michael & Felicia Alabi Memorial National Table Tennis Championships taking place in Otan Ayegbaju in Osun State.

The annual tournament is organised by the Osun State Table Tennis Association (OSTTA) with support from the Michael and Felicia Alabi Memorial Foundation and Canada-based Jodal Health Care with over 28 states competing in 14 events.

The tournament is a ranking event by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) as the results will be used for national ranking for 2024.

Number one seeds in men and women singles – Akinwale Fagbamila of Ondo and  Bisola Asaju of Rivers will taste action while other top seeds will also be in action.

A determined Fagbamila has said that he is in Osun to take home the highest prize ahead of others. “There is no doubt that this tournament has continued to improve every year with new players coming on board. But nothing can stop me from clinching the gold medal for my state because I have trained well and I will put all my hardwork to action when the matches begin,” Akinwale said.

Commonwealth Games medalist Isau Ogunkunle who claimed the first gold medal for Ogun State at the tournament has hailed the sponsors for keeping faith with the staging of the tournament. “I must commend the sponsors for what he is doing because the hospitality coupled with the good organisation put in place at the venue has made the tournament more exciting for the players. We need such competitions all over the country and for me, this is another opportunity to show what I can do and I hope I can return next year to retain my title,” the Paris Paralympic Games-bound athlete said.

Already, winners have been decided in seven events with Lagos, Ogun and Kwara leading the medal table with two gold medals each. Ondo won one gold medal as well.

From the way things are panning out at the 4^th Michael & Felicia Alabi Memorial National Table Tennis Championships, it is obvious that the players are not ready to concede defeats to themselves as top seed Amadi Umeh affirmed his intention to clinch another national title in Otan Ayegbaju, Osun State.

Also, Akinwale Fagbamila and Augustine Emmanuel are battle ready to stun Umeh, whose national team experience will come to the fore when the main draws (round of 16) kick off on Wednesday, April 24.

The annual tournament, which has been upgraded to a national ranking event by the national table tennis ruling body, the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), is organised by the Osun State Table Tennis Association (OSTTA) with support from the Michael & Felicia Alabi Memorial Foundation as well as Canada-based Jodal Health Care had players from 28 states across the country competing in 14 events.

Also, the finals of the deaf and para events will take centre stage as dignitaries across Osun are expected to grace the event as a build-up to the grand finale on Friday, April 26.

Umeh, who won one of the national tournaments in 2023 and was part of the national team for the 13^th African Games, believes he would be unstoppable in the men’s singles. “I don’t see anyone stopping me here because I am familiar with most of them, and they are no match for me. But I will not underrate them, as I am here for business, which is to take home the grand prize. I must also commend the sponsors for raising the standard of the tournament this year because the organisation has been much better than the previous editions,” the Edo State star said.

But the duo of Fagbamila and Emmanuel are ready to rock the boat with Umeh when the main draws take off.

In the women’s singles, top seed Bisola Asaju will contend with Sukurat Aiyelabegan, who has a national title to her credit, and it promises to be exciting when both players try to fend off other contenders from clinching the title.

For his second-round finish at the 2024 ITTF World Cups in Macao, Omar Assar has risen to 14^th in the 2024 Week 17 of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) due to be released on Tuesday, April 23.

The three-time African Games champion became the only African that progressed to the second round in the men’s singles after beating Iran’s Nosham Alamiyan and Sweden’s Truls Moregard to top Group 16.

The Egyptian has been in fine form since his 4-3 triumph over Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna at the 13^th African Games in Ghana and his performance has rubbed positively on his ranking fortunes as he broke into the top 16 after Ghana’s win.

Following a remarkable performance in the group stage at the ITTF World Cup, Assar was set up against Japan’s Shunsuke Togami and in a hard-fought match, it was the Japanese that triumphed with as a 4-2 (11-7, 12-14, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 11-3) win to stop the unbeaten run of the 2023 African Cup champion.

From 16th spot in Week 17, Assar rose to 14th as the best rated African in the world and considered as his career best ranking. He will be heading to next month’s African Cup in Kigali, Rwanda, where he aims to defend his title against some of the finest players in the continent.

Meanwhile, Aruna who managed a 4-0 victory over Daniel Gonzalez of Puerto Rico and later lost 1-3 to Portugal’s Marcos Freitas to exit in the first round of the ITTF World Cups, remained static in 19th place in the world rating.

 Despite withdrawing from the ITTF World Cups, Egypt’s Dina Meshref maintained his status as the best ranked African in the world rated 24^th while her compatriot – Hana Goda is second in the continent ranked 30^th in the world.