Top Stars Scramble for $100,000 as 2026 WTT Contender Serves off  Today

QKunle Adewale 

Top table tennis players from across the globe would today begin the scramble for the  $100,000 prize money at stake and 400 ITTF World Ranking points on the line as the 2026 WTT Contender serves off inside the Molade Okoya-Thomas Sports Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. 

At a press conference to herald the competition, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee for the 2026 WTT Contender Lagos, Adesoji Tayo, promised an unforgettable experience for the players and fans alike when the tournament serves off from today to May 24. 

“Nigeria’ is prepared to deliver an unforgettable experience filled with energy, culture, and top-tier table tennis. As one of the most popular tournaments on the WTT calendar, the Contender Lagos continues to raise the bar in organisation and hospitality, offering athletes and fans a truly unique atmosphere,” Tayo said. 

On his part, the Tournament Director, Dr. Kweku Tandoh, said what we are witnessing today is a combination of 13 years of table tennis progression. 

“This event started in 2013 as a Lagos International Table Tennis Classic under the sponsorship of the Lagos State government. 

It gained the attention of the International Table Tennis Federation. And they approved it. And it changed to become the ITTF Nigeria. 

For 13 years, we have not missed one edition. And you can imagine the impact that it has had on the development of table tennis in Nigeria. What we have to do is that,” Tandoh noted. 

For the Lagos State Sports Commission, Lekan Fatodu, who was represented by Dr. Yomi Olwasanmi, Lagos consider it a great honour to host such a large gathering of notable table tennis players and officials from all over the world. “We are glad that we have had this honour over a couple of years now. We note with great pleasure that this tournament has enabled many of you to visit our dear country, Nigeria, over and over again.

“Through this and other tournaments, Nigeria has been richly blessed by the emergence of players who are now making waves at the world scene.

“Many of them are currently representing Nigeria at different international table tennis competitions and continue to bring the attention of the world to Nigeria to see how our country is highly blessed in many areas of human endeavours, particularly in different sports.

“We thank the organizers of the tournament for their continuous trust in us to host such a high-level tournament. We promise that Lagos State as a Centre of Excellence and Nigeria’s economic, financial, and cultural powerhouse in Africa will always live up to expectations,” Fatodu expressed. 

Top table tennis nations including Japan, South Korea, Germany and France will headline the elite field, while players from Denmark, the USA, India, Portugal, Romania, Cameroon, Benin Republic, Belgium, Canada, Togo, the Netherlands, Ghana, Wales, Egypt, Italy, Chile, Slovenia and hosts Nigeria are also expected to be very competitive.