*$100k Prize, Olympic Ranking Points At Stake
No fewer than 130 table tennis stars across the globe are competing for honours at this year’s third edition of the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender.
The prestigious tournament is currently underway at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
This was disclosed by the director of the event, Dr. kwelu Tandoh at the Teslim Balogun stadium.
Dr,Tandoh said the WTT Contender is a 13-year progression of table tennis competition which started in Lagos as the Lagos International Table Tennis Classic sponsored by the Lagos State government from the time of erstwhile Governor Raji Fashola before gaining the attention and approval of the International Table Tennis Federation and metamorphosed into the Lagos WTT Contender, one of only two in Africa.
This year’s edition promises to be highly explosive that would deliver the best of table tennis can offer anywhere in the world as it has the highest number of top-ranked players both male and female participating in the edition.
There are 5 top 20 players and 30 of top 100 players participating to tell how competitive it is. The event is a world ranking points event towards the Olympics in 2028 where all the top players in the world are doing their best to garner enough points to qualify without having to go through qualification matches and for next year’s World Championships coming up in Kazakhstan. Winner of the event goes with 100,000 dollars.
The President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation and Chairman, Local Organizing Committee, Dr. Ade Taiwo in welcoming the players from 20 countries participating in the championship and in appraisal of the competition for the high standard and competitiveness owing to calibres of players and other technical team from ITTF said the event would help improve the skill and performance of Nigerian players.
The Director General of the Lagos State Sports Commission, Mr. Lekan Fatodu represented by Dr. Oluwasnmi Oriyomi, Director of School Sports expressed the state delight at hosting the world competition again which has produced many great talents