TABLE TENNIS: 12 teams storm Lagos for African Club Championships

No fewer than 12 teams have been confirmed for the African Club Championships which begin on Thursday at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

Defending champion – Ahly Club of Egypt has been listed as the number one seed in the women event while ENPPI of Egypt will be heading the men event at the two-day championship.

According to the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), host country – Nigeria will be represented by SOJ TT Club of Lagos and Remo Stars TT Club of Ogun in the men event while G20 of Abuja and Cannan Queen of Calabar will hoist Nigeria’s flag in the women event.

The Ahly team will be led by African women champion – Dina Meshref while the best two players in the continent – Aruna Quadri of Nigeria and Egypt’s Omar Assar will dorn the colours of ENPPI of Egypt.

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Congo DRC, Togo, Ethiopia, Benin Republic, Senegal, and Rwanda will also be represented in the continental club championship.

For the President of ATTF, Khaled El-Salhy, the tournament would help the players to tune up for the ITTF Africa Cup.

“The African Clubs has a different taste in our events with teams representing clubs and some of them are with different nationality, and we have a special case this year that our top two players in men (Aruna Quadri & Omar Assar) in Africa are registered in one club which is ENPPI of Egypt,” he said.

For the ATTF boss, the tournament would also add glamour the table tennis fiesta holding in Lagos being the first time any African nation would stag three prestigious tournaments at a stretch.

“The tournament is a good test for the African players and a good preparation for the main event “ITTF Africa Cup, which is the qualifying event for ITTF World Cups. We have a good number of entries and I hope ITTF can consider staging a World Clubs Championships in which the Champion in Africa can compete with the champions of others continent,” the ATTF chief said.

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