Lagos to host befitting ITTF African Championships, says Aiyepeku

Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC) chairman, Sola Aiyepeku, has said the aquatic city is at the ready to stage a befitting African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) 2022 World Championship’s regional qualification, African Club Championships and African Cup tournaments.

Aiyepeku who is also a member of the ATTF-appointed Main Organising Committee (MOC) said the state would continue to impress the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) by raising the standard of its competitions.

“Having staged several international tournaments in the past, we are an experienced state and this has encouraged the ITTF and ATTF to see the state as the qualified city for this year’s tournaments,” he said. “For nine days, we will have the best players across Africa in Lagos to compete as well as enjoy the hospitality of the good people of Lagos.”

Aiyepeku said Lagos has become the home of table tennis in Africa, especially with the quality of organization the state has put up in the past events.

“Apart from the organization which is always top-notch, the enthusiasm of fans that most times thronged the venue to watch the stars has made the state a place to be for major sporting events,” he continued. “We have the personnel as well as the infrastructure to host the event and we hope that we can continue to raise the bar in Africa, we believe that all our visitors will enjoy the tourism potential of the state even as they are coming to compete in tournaments.”

From May 19 to 28, the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium will host the three tournaments with the World Championship’s regional qualification for West African teams kick-starting the tournament between May 19 and 21 while the African Club Championships follow on May 23 to 25 while the African Cup which is a singles tournament, will climax the event between May 26 and 28.

For the African Cup, each participating country will nominate two players each in men’s and women’s events while the host country will nominate four players each for the tournament.

The nine-man MOC will be chaired by ITTF Vice President, Wahid Oshodi and he will be assisted by the President of Cote d’Ivoire Table Tennis Federation, Prof. Alfred Germain Karou