Athletes from 25 countries around the world will converge in Lagos for the World Table Tennis Contender series to be held between 12th June to 18th June in Nigeria – the first of its kind in the country.

Former president of the Nigerian Table Tennis Federation and current Vice President of ITTF, Waheed Enitan Oshodi has told fans of table tennis in the country to expect a keenly contested tourney in the forthcoming World Table Tennis Contender Series in Lagos.

He explained that although it is disappointing that homeboy, Aruna Quadri would not be at the event, it would be a good chance for the remaining players to step up.

Players will be able to earn ranking points in the WTT Contender, which follows the recent inaugural ITTF World Championships in South Africa, in their quest to pick tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in France.

The competition’s top players will help the younger players better their performances, according to the event’s director, Kweku Tandoh.

“Quadri himself feels bad that he cannot be here because one of the players that beat him at the WTT in Durban, South Africa, will also be here, it would have been an opportunity for him to avenge the loss. We have the former world number one coming and about 13 Chinese players coming here too. The tournament is going to be top quality.

“It is an opportunity, even if they (the young players) don’t get through to the qualifiers. It is competitions like this that will help them build confidence, and know where they need to improve in terms of their performance. Don’t forget that players like Taiwo Mati and Olajide Omotayo started about 10 years ago with the Lagos International Classics, now they are world players because at that early stage, they were able to rub shoulders with top foreign players, and it helped them to build up their own game,” Kweku Tandoh told reporters.