The Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos will come alive on Saturday, May 14, as the 20 best Under-16 players across the country slug it out at the maiden Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) Super League.
The Super League is the climax of the tournament involving more than 100 players across the country with the top 12 (boys) and eight (girls) battle it out for the mouthwatering prize money at stake at the one-day championship.
According to the referee of the tournament, John Peters, the championship promises to be explosive as most of the players are targeting places in the national team as well as share from the prize money.
“I will not be surprise if new players dethrone the established ones because there were surprises during the qualifiers for the Super League. Players we had expected to have easy ride were sent packing while unknown players made it to the Super League.
“This has surely given us the outlook of what to expect at the one-day tournament. Fans across Lagos and its environs should come around as see another Segun Toriola and Aruna Quadri emerging from the championship,” the ITTF blue badge umpire said.
The Rio 2016 Olympics bound-official added: “I believe the Super League is a dress rehearsal for the main event next week, the ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open. This will also afford the young players the opportunity to tune up for the championship and I will not be surprised if any of them causes an upset next week.”
Meanwhile, the draws for the Super League has been released by NTTF with the 12 boys drawn into four groups with each group made up of three players while the girls were drawn into two groups of four each.
For the boys, the top two players in each group progress to the quarterfinal stage while the top two players in the girls’ event advance to the semifinal round of the competition.
