The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has approved the maiden Africa Top 16 Cup holding in Lagos, as the continental qualifiers for this year’s Men and Women World Cups.
The tournament holds on June 27 to 28 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium with the top rated African players competing for the sole spot in the men and women qualifiers.
Also, most of the players taking part in the Africa Top 16 Cup will join their counterparts across the globe to be part of the ITTF Lagos World Tour tagged Nigeria Open holding on June 23 to 26 at same venue
To ensure that the players expected are present in Lagos, the Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) had sent invitations to the top 16 men and top 16 women on the ATTF’s ranking lists for May 2014.
Egypt’s El-Sayed Lashin and Congo Brazzaville’s Han Xing won the 2013 ITTF-Africa Senior Cup held in Oyo, Congo Brazzaville and they also represented the continent at the Liebherr Men’s World Cup and Women’s World Cup.
Again, the two players will be part of the participants coming to Lagos in their bid to repeat the achievement.
There is no doubt that Lashin and Xing may well start as favourites for gold but both will face stern opposition from Egypt’s duo of Omar Assar and Dina Meshref, who are potential entrants for the two-day competition.
At the 2013, Assar, Lagos’ fans favourite did not compete in the ITTF-Africa Senior Cup; whilst Meshref suffered a somewhat surprise defeat as compatriot, Farah Abdel-Aziz, beat her at the quarterfinal stage.
However, there will be a strong challenge from Egypt and Congo Brazzaville will no doubt materialise; equally there may well be a strong challenge from the host nation, Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has shown good form in recent months, while there are few with the vast experience of Segun Toriola.
Equally for the women, the likes of Offiong Edem and Olufunke Oshonaike may well be on duty; host nation support could well tip the scales in their favour.
The winners qualify to compete in the respective Liebherr Men’s World Cup and Women’s World Cup tournaments to be staged later this year.
Düsseldorf in Germany will be the home for the Liebherr Men’s World Cup to be staged from Friday October 24 to Sunday 26, 2014 being preceded by the Women’s World Cup to be held from Friday October 17 to Sunday 19, this year at a venue yet to be confirmed.