No upset yet at the 2017 NTTF Championships
It is day three of the 2017 National Table Tennis Championships and 2018 Commonwealth Games selection trials at the Indoor Sport Hall of the National Stadium,Surulere.
The tournament , which is in the second year, has being adjudged as one of the largest entries recorded in a single tournament in Nigeria with over six hundred participants excluding the para-athletes.
Still in Contention for the National Best player award in the male category is the defending Champion , Sola Oyetayo of the Nigeria Civil defence, who defeated 2017 Asoju Oba Champion, Afeez Jamiu 4-3 to claim the title last year .
“I will try and defend my title successfully but it will be a bit difficult because the number of entries this year has increased to 128 ,which is a far cry from last year”. said the young officer .
2016 Finalist and the reigning Asoju Oba Champion, Afeez Jamiu,is hoping to win the tournament.
“Everybody is in good shape and I have being working out for long to win the tournament even if I meet Sola Oyetayo on my way , I will make sure I defeat him”.
Other hopefuls to win the Championship includes last year semi-finalists, Rilwan Akanbi and Faleye David of the Nigeria Army , who lost to Afeez Jamiu 4-0 in the final of the 2017 Asoju Oba Championship earlier this month .
Those expected to cause the upsets are sixteen years old , Azeez Solanke, who lost to Rilwan Akanbi at the 2016 Asoju Oba Champion and a bronze Medalist at the 2017 ITTF World Junior Circuit – Egypt Open in October.
If his presence form is considered , Solanke can be a David .
Tipped to be the next Aruna Quadri by the Africa Table Tennis Federation is thirteen years old , Mati Taiwo from Ondo State , who won the most improved player at 2017 ITTF Nigeria Open .
Mati was the golden boy of the Sport at the National Youth games in Ilorin with two gold medals in the Junior Singles and Male doubles.
His Superlative Performance at the World Junior Circuit in Egypt with two gold and a bronze medal earned him the title as the next “Aruna Quadri”.
With the duo of Azeez Solanke and Mati Taiwo and many others , the future definitely starts here.
The round of thirty-two for the Male Singles starts tomorrow .
By: Mudashiru Shittu
