ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open serves off

THE much-anticipated 2016 ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open will serve off on Wednesday May 18 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun in Lagos. Preliminary matches for unseeded players will kick start the championship as over 55 players will be aiming for the 16 slots in the main draw of the competition in the men’s singles. 

In the women’s singles, 38 players will jostle for the eight slots available in the main draw of the competition. Already, virtually most of the European players have arrived for the championship with some of them slugging it out in the preliminary while all eyes will be on 2014 ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri who will be targeting his first World Tour title in front of the Lagos fans. Over 120 players from 16 countries are taking part in the $46,000 prize money five-day championship, which is the biggest prize money in the ITTF Challenge Series in the world. 

Meanwhile, President, Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy lauded NTTF for their initiative in add glamour to the competition every year. 

“I am happy with what I am seeing and I hope we can sustain this tournament as it has become a pride to the continent with so many players across the world looking forward to be part of the competition,” he said.