Top 64 players (boys and girls) in the U-15 and U-19 categories will compete at the first Daniel Ford International Elite Youth Invitational National Table Tennis Championships from December 21 to 22 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, organisers have said.
The tournament is sponsored by UK-based property firm, Daniel Ford International, and organised by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, with the major aim of unearthing talents and contributing to the growth of table tennis in the country.
According to the CEO of Daniel Ford International, Yemi Edun, the decision to sponsor the tournament is borne out of his passion for the sport, having grown up in the Surulere area of Lagos, considered as the sports capital of Nigeria.
“Table tennis was widely played at homes and on the streets growing up, but I also lived in Surulere, which was and still is, to some extent, the sports capital of Nigeria. In fact, the National Stadium in Surulere is also known as Sports City, living in this neighbourhood made me acutely aware of all things sports, including table tennis. Aside from that, I grew up during a period when table tennis legends like Atanda Musa were routinely featured on the front pages of national newspapers,” he said.
On the objective of the tourney, Edun added, “We want to enrich the existing talent pool and provide opportunities for talent to shine. We also believe it would be something that is suitable for the festive season, a good way to round up the year.”
The tournament would be played on a round-robin format with the 16 (boys and girls each) in U-15 and 16 (boys and girls each) in U-19 would be drawn into a group of four, with the top two in each group advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament.
Contact: [email protected]
