Lagos To Host Table Tennis World Classics

Nigeria and indeed Lagos State have begun to reap the dividends of having Barrister Wahid Enitan Oshodi as president of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, NTTF with the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)/Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) sanctioning Nigeria to host the first Lagos International Classics in August.

P.M.NEWS Sports gathered that being the highest prize money tournament in Africa, the competition is being organised by the Main Organising Committee, MOC, of Lagos International Sports Classics in collaboration with the NTTF.

Players and teams across the globe are expected to feature in the tournament holding at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos from 26-31 August with 10 events to be jostled for by the players.

According to the chairman of the organising committee and President of NTTF, Wahid Oshodi, the championship is open to all ITTF affiliated associations, while junior events will be for players born on or after 1 January, 1995.

Winners in the men and women singles will get $5,000 and $4,000 respectively while players that make it to round of 16 of the singles event will get cash rewards.

“We believe that organising this competition will help our players and expose them to other top players from other nations. We are hoping that it will be an annual event that will help to improve the lot of the sport in the country,” Oshodi said.

He added that tournament is made possible by the support of the private sector and the Lagos State Government. Deadline for players’ entry has been fixed for 13 August, while qualifying matches in all events for Nigerian based players hold on 222-23 August.