ITTF sanctions Nigeria Open, confirms August 9 date

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Challenge Series has listed the recently introduced $46,000 worth Nigeria Open in its calendar of events.

The federation has also confirmed August 9 to 13 as the date for the championships holding at the Molade OkoyaThomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos State.

Nigeria Open remains the highest prize money tournament among the ITTF Challenge Series and the world table tennis ruling body has also named Algeria’s Mounir Bessah as the competition Manager, while Nigeria’s Femi George is the Tournament Director.

At the Nigeria Open this year, players across the globe are expected to complete their registration by July 20. The final entries for singles event is July 10 while the final entries for doubles is July 20.

According to the 2017 ITTF Challenge Directives, limited number of entries to players is 180, while only the final entries are taken into consideration by the organizers and the Competition Manager for the participation of players.

In the prospectus released at the weekend, a national association can enter a maximum of six players with the host getting 12 slots in each gender.

However, the tournament will be preceded by the qualification events commencing on Wednesday August 9 to 10 while the main draw will serve off on August 10.

Already, men’s singles defending champion, Finland’s Olah Benedek has confirmed his readiness to defend the title while some European stars have expressed their intention to be part of the tournament.