2 Nigerians Make Africa’s ITTF Cadet Challenge Team

Two Nigerians are in the team selected to represent Africa at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Cadet Challenge and Junior Circuit finals in India from November 1 to November 7.

Segun Oguntade, Secretary, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), disclosed to Tideports source on Monday in Lagos that Nigeria and Egypt would represent Africa at the event.

Oguntade named the players as Fatimo Bello and Azeez Ogunlade who took part at the African Junior and Cadet Championships in Cairo, Egypt in June.

He also said that the players participated at the Africa Junior Championships in Congo Brazzaville where they showed outstanding performances.

“They were invited along with the Egyptian team based on their excellent performance in Cairo,’’ he said.

According to him, the Nigerian players will depart the country on October 22 aboard an Egypt Air aircraft to undergo training with the Egyptians to blend before the competition.

The NTTF Secretary said that Bose Kaffo, a former female table tennis African champion had also been invited to coach the Africa female team and Kasali Lazeez to handle the male.

Oguntade expressed confidence that the players would do well at the competition as they had been training to improve their skill prior to the invitation.

“The invitation came at the right time because the players had been in training without relenting, so their training in Egypt will put them in tournament form,’’ he said.

Oguntade said that the players and coaches were being sponsored by the Africa Table Tennis Federation.