African Table Tennis Players in Diaspora to stage meet in Abeokuta
The African Table Tennis Players in Diaspora are set for a year-ending invitational tournament scheduled to take place between December 27 and 29.
Abeokuta, Ogun State, will host this edition, the third in the series, and Alake Sports Centre is the venue of the tournament which will see 25 players battle for honours with close to N1m set aside as cash prizes.
The coordinator of the tournament, Wale Ajetunmobi, told newsmen on Saturday that all was set for the competition.
“We have been on this for three years and now we want the players to have a good festive atmosphere to end the year. It is also a way of entertaining the table tennis fans in the ancient city of Abeokuta,” Ajetunmobi said.
The list of the invited players are Kuti Matthew ( Lagos State), Abudulfatai Abdulbasit (Kwara State), Adegoke Muiz (Lagos State) Fabunmi Matthew ( Kwara State), Ayanwale Jamiu, (Oyo State), Azeez Wasiu ( Oyo State), Sanni Abdulrahman ( Edo State), Akanbi Rilwan ( NSCDC ) and Oladiran Joshua ( Ondo State),
Others are; Oladipupo Olayinka (NPF), Oladele Kehinde (NPF), Lawal Amidu (Nigeria Army) Fayele David (Nigeria Army), Akinyemi Adebowale (Edo State), Yunus Idowu (River State), Agunbiade Sultan ( Aruna Club), Adebakin Tobi (Lagos State) and Atunwon Quadri (Aruna Club).
Also to participate in the tournament are; Yinus Lateef (Rivers State), Yaya Azeez (Aruna Club), Olatunji Timothy (Oyo State), Oyeniyi Lateef (Osun State), Mukaila Ajagbe (Nigerian Navy), Mustapha Bello (OLAAJ Club) and Alaba Olanlege (OLAAJ Club).
One of the Chieftains of the African Table Tennis players in Diaspora, Mr. Charles Olayinka, said the competition would continue to get better every year.
“We are trying to encourage professional players to get busy and also gain exposure with this tournament. It is a yearly event in which we also use this as part of the December festivities,’’ Olayinka said.
Lagos ping ponger, Mathew Kuti, is the defending Champion of the competition which promises to be highly interesting and explosive in Abeokuta.
