The Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) has named Quadri Aruna, Offiong Edem, Olajide Omotayo, and Fatimo Bello as Nigeria’s flag-bearers at the 2024 ITTF African Cup and Olympics Qualification Tournament.
In a statement released by the NTTF on Sunday, the tournament would take place in Kigali, Rwanda, from 12 to 18 May.
According to the prospectus of the tournament, the selection committee conducted the process so that each country presents two men and two women for the African Cup apart from champions Egypt and the hosts Rwanda.
“Egypt, as the defending champions in men and women, will present three players each and Rwanda will present four men and four women as the host country,” the statement revealed.
In a list of participants released by the continental table tennis ruling body, the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Omar Assar of Egypt, the men’s singles champion, will be joined by his compatriot Hana Goda, who will also be defending her title in the women’s singles.
Aruna, a finalist at the 2022 edition held in Lagos, Nigeria, suffered an injury in the finals and forfeited the match to Assar after emerging from the brink of defeat to level up.
He led in the seventh game, but a thigh injury forced him to surrender the title to the Egyptian in front of the supporting Lagos fans.
Aruna, who had dropped in the ITTF ranking to 19th place, could use the tournament to move to the top of the world rating.
He, however, will again face a Herculean task against the Egyptian trio of Assar, Mohamed El-Beiali, and Youssef Abdel-Aziz.
Omotayo, who had yet to show why he was crowned the 2019 African Games champion, will look forward to another showdown against some of the finest African stars in Kigali.
Similarly, Edem, who spearheaded Nigeria’s silver medal at the 13th African Games, will seek a repeat of her superlative performance in Kigali.
ALSO READ: ITTF World Cup: Aruna, Assar get opponents
Bello, who reached the finals in the 2022 edition, will be best advised to quickly forget her subpar performance in Ghana behind her and aim to replicate her 2022 form in Rwanda.
Aruna will strive for his fourth Olympic Games appearance as the Olympic qualification tournament commences on May 16 at the BK Arena in Kigali.
Egypt will not compete, as they have already picked up their tickets at the 2023 African Championships in Tunisia.
NAN
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