The historic town of Otan Ayegbaju in Osun State will come alive from Monday, April 22, as the best table tennis players across the country converge for the Michael & Felicia Alabi Memorial National Table Tennis Championships.
The tournament which has been upgraded to a national ranking event with a record entries of 28 states is organised by the Osun State Table Tennis Association (OSTTA) with support from the Micheal and Felicia Alabi Memorial Foundation and Canada-based Jodal Health Care will have players competing in 14 events for five days in their bid to be listed in the national ranking that will be released after the tournament on Friday, April 26.
According to the Referee of the tournament, John Peters, the teams have arrived at the venue while the draw would be concluded on Sunday, April 21 in readiness for the kick off on Monday, April 22.
For the seeding list, 13th African Games medallist – Amadi Umeh of Edo and Bisola Asaju of Rivers are top seeds in the senior singles event.
Amadi who was part of Nigeria men’s team to the 13th African Games in Ghana has been touted as the player to beat following the absence of teenage sensation Matthew Kuti, who is leading Nigeria team to the ITTF West Africa Regional Championships in Lome, Togo this week.
In the absence of women’s singles defending champion Hope Udoaka, Asaju will be targeting her first title in the competition, but she will have to contend with Kwara’s Sukurat Aiyelabegan, a silver medallist at the 13th African Games.
The men’s singles top 10 seeds headed by Umeh has players like Akinwale Fagbamila of Ondo, Lagos’ Emmanuel Augustine, Ondo’s Joshua Oladiran, Rivers’ Jamiu Ayanwale, Edo, Olayinka Oladipupo, Niger’s Abdullahi Abdulrahman and Oyo’s Kehinde Oladele.
In the top 10 seeds in the women’s singles led by Asaju, other listed seeds include Aiyelabegan, Lagos’ Abosede Akinsete; record holder in the annual Molade Okoya-Thomas Cup, Bosede Odusanya of Lagos, Titilayo Olobatuyi of Edo, Ondo’s Kehinde Akinyinka, Edo’s Oyinyechi Mba and Ogun’s Funmi Oyetayo.
The seeding list in the U-15 category is headed by Kogi’s Victor Joseph and Ondo’s Funmilayo Ojo.
In the draws list made public by the organisers, the men’s singles has 15 groups with three in each group while the women’s singles has 10 groups of three players in each group.
