By Adeyemi Robinson-Adefioye Lagos
The aquatic city – Lagos was Sunday ignited as the best table tennis in the West Africa region converged for the second edition of ITTF Africa Western Region Championships taking place at Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun in Lagos.
At the press conference held in Lagos yesterday, the Executive Chairman, Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC), Sola Aiyepeku said the state was ready to welcome the future stars of the region while urging the visitors from the region to enjoy the warmness and hospitality of the state.
“We are a good host in Lagos, and we hope our visitors will enjoy our warm hospitality with the hope that from this tournament, future stars that will continue to raise the profile of the sport in the world would emerge. We are not only looking for stars, we are hoping that world beaters will come out from here,” Aiyepeku said.
In his remarks, Vice President, ITTF Africa Western Region, Ferdinand Sounou hailed Nigeria for its leadership role in the region. “We are looking up to Nigeria in the region and we hope they will continue to lead, especially as they continue to raise the standard for us in Africa. We must commend them for being a good host and we also urge our players to avail themselves of this rare opportunity to showcase themselves to the outside world,” Sounou said.
President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) Ishaku Tikon believes the tournament would help to unearth stars like Quadri Aruna who has continued to put the continent on the world map.
The Vice President of Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Germain Karou, believes the staging of the tournament by Nigeria was coming at a time when the whole world is looking up to Nigeria with the excellent performance of Quadri Aruna at global level.
Six countries made up of host Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia are taking part in the four-day regional ranking championships.
