The Technical Director of
the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Anderson Bankole, has expressed satisfaction at the performance of the nation’s representatives at the ongoing Kuwait ITTF World Tour, “tagged Kuwait Open’’.
Bankole told newsmen in Lagos that the players had started the tournament on a positive note.
He said that Aruna Quadri’s 4-1 victory over Egypt’s Mohammed Elsobky would boost the morale of his colleagues.
The technical director added that in spite of Elsobky racing to a 13-11 victory in the first set, Quadri had to dig deep to win the remaining three sets 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 to record a 4-0 win.
He, however, expressed disappointment over Kazeem Makanjuola’s loss in his first appearance in an ITTF World Tour.
He lost the four sets he played in: 5-11, 9-11, 8-11, 5-11 to his French opponent.
“The competition just started and I am optimist that they will redirect their energy and strength to make their other games better than the opening match.
“An opening game is most times dicey and unpredictable and I am sure that the subsequent games would be better than this.’’
Bankole said that the winners from the 32 groups in the qualifiers would advance to the main draw to confront the top 32 seeded players in the next leg of the tour in Doha, Qatar.
He also pledged that the players would not disappoint Nigerians and would take advantage of the tour to hone their skills.
“They are not just there to play but they are also there to gather more experience to sharpen their skills,’’he said.
The Kuwait Open, is a Super Series Event on the ITTF World Tour, among the top three tiers (Super, Major and Challenge), and there are six gold medals for grabs.
They are men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, men’s U-21 singles and women’s U-21 singles.
The tour which served-off on February 12 was concluded on February 16 in Kuwait.