ITTF hails Nigeria’s feat at Mauritius 2018

Following the heroic performance of Nigeria’s men team at the just-ended ITTF African Championships in Mauritius, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has commended the West African side for their 3-1 win over Egypt in an entertaining final.

Since 2010, Egypt has dominated the men’s team event and they had represented Africa several times at the ITTF World Team Cup with their last appearance being the London 2018 but Nigeria with the victory in Mauritius will fly the continent’s flag at the 2019 edition in Tokyo, Japan.

In a statement signed by the ITTF President, Thomas Weikert and addressed to the President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Engineer Ishaku Tikon, the ITTF helmsman lauded the team for asserting itself against the Egyptians with quality display by the trio of Aruna Quadri, Bode Abiodun and Segun Toriola to record a 3-1 win.

Weikert said: “Congratulations to the winner of the Men’s Team Event at this year’s African Championships. After the victory 10 years ago, Nigeria was able to put on the crown again. In a high-class final against the defending Champion, Egypt, your team could assert itself in many close games and can now call itself Africa champion. Congratulations again!”

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Nigeria and Egypt will compete at the global championship comes November 2019 in Japan as the tournament serves as a test-run for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Aruna, it will be recalled, also won the men’s singles title in Mauritius, when he defeated Egyptian Ahmed Saleh 4-1 in the final played last weekend.