ITTF Lignano Masters: Team Nigeria’s performance excites Odebode

By Ifeanyi Eduzor

Team leader to the just concluded 2023 ITTF Lignano Masters Para table tennis Open championship in Italy, Sunday Odebode has expressed happiness with the performance of the players even as he appealed for more support for the game to enable Nigerian players be at par with their counterparts from other countries of the world.
Nigerian players gave a good account of themselves in the championship winning two silver and two bronze in the highly contested tournament.
Bolawa Akingbemisilu who was participating in his maiden international outing made his presence felt after upstaging some of the top players to settle for silver medal in class five division of the four day F-20 ranking point championship
Akingbemisilu who was part of the 16-man team sponsored by the Delta State government to the first hurdle towards qualifying for Paris 2024 Paralympic Games in France.
Grouped alongside top rated players, he worked his way into the knockout stage where he caused one of the biggest upsets after beating Commonwealth Games champion, Jack Hunter 3-2 in the semi-final round.
Despite going down early in the game, the Nigerian fought back to beat the world number five and booked his place in the final against Serbia’s Mitar Palikuca.
Like he did in the semi-ifinal, Akingbemisilu did not start well against the world number six but he rallied back and his efforts could not help him from losing the gold medal to the Serbian at 3-1.
His performance  was however lauded by ITTF who tipped the Nigerian for the African title in the nearest future.
Also, Commonwealth silver medalist Isau Ogunkunle earned the second silver in men’s class four after losing 3-2 in the final to Japan’s Kazuki Shichino.
Ifechukwude Ikpeoyi settled for bronze in the women’s class five while Kehinde Lawal also claimed bronze in the women’s class nine.
Speaking on their performance, ‘Team Manager’, Sunday Odebode told newstap.com.ng that the players gave a good account of themselves considering that some of them were making their maiden international outing. and they played among some of the top ranked players in the world.
He specifically thanked the Delta State government for their immense support and ensuring that the team took part in the tournament which served as a pathway to the Paralympic Games.
“We hope that we can have another opportunity to compete in another tournament like this before the African Paralympic qualifying tournament in Egypt come September. With their participation here, they have gained valuable points that will aid their eventual qualification to Paris.
“We thank Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and Delta State Sports Commission for their huge backing for us to be part of this trip and call on government at all levels and corporate Nigeria to emulate Delta State Government and invest in the sports and we promise that with adequate support we’ll win more laurels in major competitions like this”, he concluded.
Nigeria is the only African team that competed alongside 33 other countries with over 300 athletes competing in 39 events made up of singles and doubles division.