Record entries for the Alabi Table Tennis Championship

For the first time in the history of the annual Micheal & Felicia Alabi Memorial National Championship, over 28 states beat the registration deadline for the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF)-sanctioned national ranking event taking place in Osun State from April 22 to 26.

From the list of entries received by NTTF, 53 men and 38 women will compete in the senior singles event while over 34 players will jostle for honours in the U-15 singles event as the para and veteran events also received large entries for this year.

The yearly championships is organised by the Osun State Table Tennis Association (OSTTA) with technical support from NTTF and sponsored by the Micheal & Felicia Alabi Memorial as well as Canada-based Healthcare and it has been attracting top players

Tournament referee John Peters described the turnout as a result of the upgrading of the championships to the national ranking event while the hospitality by the sponsors has encouraged teams to identify with the fourth edition.

“We are indeed overwhelmed by the turnout of teams for this year’s event because making it a national ranking event will help NTTF to identify talents as well as rate the players based on their performance in national events. It is going to be exciting this year looking at the quality of players that have been confirmed for the tournament, it promises to be explosive as this is the only tournament to be staged nationally this year. We are expecting several upsets, especially from the junior players who have been doing well lately and for me, I see new champions emerging in all the events,” Peters said.

The former ITTF blue badge umpire, however, lauded the sponsor for keeping faith with the annual staging of the tournament while urging other corporate bodies and individuals to support table tennis.