16th September, 2013
Semifinalist at the first Lagos International Table Tennis Classics, Kazeem Makanjuola is among the top players that will begin hostilities for honour as the maiden TJ’s National Open Championship serves off today in Sango Otta, Ogun State.
The one-week competition has been endorsed by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) headed by mr. Wahid Enitan Oshodi and it is financed by TJ”s Hotel and Suites in Sango Ota with players competing for the N1 million prize money.
Aside Makanjuola, Portugal based duo of Seun Ajetunmobi and Ganiat Olatunde as well as national champion, Rasheedat Ogundele will be in action at the tournament with hundreds of cadet players also participating in the competition.
For the competition manager, Kabir Ajibose, the dwindling fortune of the game prompted the staging of the championship, which is aim to complement the efforts of the Wahid Oshodi-led Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) board.
With special focus on U-13 (cadet) participants, the organisers intend to make the tournament a yearly event that will be permanent in the NTTF calendar.
States and clubs across the country have confirmed their participation while group matches kick off at TJ’s Hall in Sango Ota, Ogun State.
Explaining the rationale behind the championship, Ajibose said: “There is a noticeable decline in Nigerian table tennis since the turn of the century and this can be attributed to various reasons and prominent among them is lack of regular competition as well as a sound developmental programme that allows for early discovery of talents. We had included the Under-13 (cadet) boys and girls and we believe that with more competitions and a catch them young tactics deployed, the future can be bright again.”
He added: “Gone were the days when we used to have the Bournvita top 16 Classics and even the Coca Cola International classics as well. Then, we had Nigerian players among the top 50 in the world, but now the story has changed, we are not even number one in Africa again. This is a very strong indication that a lot has gone wrong and we thought that something needs to be done very urgently to arrest the downward slide that we seem to have found ourselves. Hence, we thought of the idea of a national championship to allow our best hands to compete as well as discover our future super stars,” Ajibose explained.
As attention shifts to Ogun, the N1million prize money will be jostle for by players in Men’s singles, Women’s single, cadet (under 13) boys and girls and the veterans’ category, while the top 16 players in each event will get cash reward for their efforts.