The Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) has named Quadri Aruna, Offiong Edem, Olajide Omotayo and Fatimo Bello as Nigeria’s flagbearers at the 2024 ITTF African Cup and Olympics Qualification Tournament taking place in Kigali, Rwanda, from May 12 to 18.

According to the prospectus of the tournament, each country is expected to present two men and two women for the African Cup while Egypt as the defending champions in men and women will present three players each. Rwanda will present four men and four women as the host country.

In the list of participants released by the continental table tennis ruling body, African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Omar Assar of Egypt as the men’s singles defending champion will be joined by her compatriot – Hana Goda who will also be defending her title in the women’s singles.

Aruna as finalists at the 2022 edition held in Lagos, Nigeria, suffered an injury in the final to forfeit the match to Assar after coming back from the brink of defeat to level up.

He led in the seventh game, but a thigh injury forced him to surrender the title to the Egyptian in front of the supporting Lagos fans.

The Nigerian who had dropped in the ITTF ranking to 19th place is hoping to use the tournament to climb his way back to the top of the world rating will again be facing a Herculean task against the Egyptian trio of Assar, Mohamed El-Beiali and Youssef Abdel-Aziz.

Omotayo who is yet to show why he was crowned the 2019 African Games champion will be looking forward to another showdown against some of the finest African stars in Kigali.

Edem who spearheaded Nigeria’s silver medal at the 13th African Games will be looking forward to a repeat of her Accra’s superlative performance in Kigali.

Bello, a finalist at the 2022 edition must have put her below-par performance in Ghana behind her with the hope of reenacting her 2022 form in Rwanda.

At the Olympics Qualification Tournament, Aruna will be eyeing her fourth Olympic Games appearance when the event kicks off on May 16 at the BK Arena in Kigali as Egypt will not be competing as they had already picked their tickets at the 2023 African Championships in Tunisia.

Jamiu Ayanwale of Rivers and Sukurat Aiyelabegan were flawless in their triumph at the 4^th Michael & Felicia Alabi Memorial National Table Tennis Championships which ended in Ota Ayegbaju in Osun State at the weekend.

The five-day tournament has been upgraded to a ranking event by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) and was organised by the Osun State Table Tennis Association (OSTTA) with support from Michael & Felicia Alabi Memorial Foundation and Canada-based Jodal Health Care.

Earlier in the day, Delta’s Ese Onakpoberuo had beaten Favour Ojo of Ondo 3-2 (11-7, 5-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-4) to emerge winner in the girls’ U-15 while Kwara’s Hussein Faruq of Kwara defeated Joseph Marvelous of Delta 3-1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6) to win the boys’ event.

Players from 28 states featured in this year’s event being the record entries from the previous editions and the tournament lived up to expectation with some tops seeds exiting early in the championships as number three seed Emmanuel Augustine of Lagos was shown the door by unseeded Mustapha Mustaph of Borno in the round of 16, while Joshua Oladiran of Ondo, who was 2023 runner’s up was bundled out by unseeded Wasiu Azeez of Oyo in the semifinal of the men’s singles.

In his quest to lift the men’s singles title, Ayanwale was unmatched from the knockout stage to the final where he also dominated Oyo’s Azeez with a commanding 4-1 (11-4, 11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6) to win the tournament for the first time.

Like Ayanwale, Aiyelabegan continued her dominance over Lagos State champion Bose Odusanya with an overwhelming 4-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8) to be crowned the women’s singles champion.

OSTTA Chairman and sponsor of the tournament Ayodeji Alabi lauded the players for putting up a good display while pledging his commitment to continue to improve the standard of the tournament annually.

“I am very grateful for another opportunity to host this tournament again and I am happy that at last, it has become a ranking event for all Nigerian players based on the sanction by NTTF. I hope and believe we can produce the next Quadri Aruna from this tournament, and it will afford us the opportunity to sharpen the skills of the players for major international competitions,” he said.

Alabi, however, hailed Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun for his commitment for sports development, adding that since inception the tournament has been receiving the support of the state government.

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.