27 countries, 169 players vie for $46,000 Nigeria Open prize
No fewer than 169 players made up of 108 men and 61 women from 27 countries will compete for the $46,000 prize money at the 2018 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Challenge Seamaster Nigeria Open holding at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos from August 8 to 12.
The championship is the second highest prize money among the nine ITTF Challenge Series.
In the men’s singles, 32 players made the seeding with Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri seeded number one, being the highest ranked player in the competition, while Russia’s Alexey Liventsov is number two seed. Other players that made the top 10 seeding list are 2016 Champion - Finalnd’s Benedek Olah (3), Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro (4), England’s Samuel Walker (5), France’s Alexandre Robinot (6), Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes (7), Hungary’s Tamas Lakatos (8), Scotland’s Gavin Rumgay (9) and Thailand’s Supanut Wisutmaythangkoon (10).
Olufunke Oshonaike is Nigerian that made the the only top 10 seeding list of the women’s singles with Thailand’s Suthasini Sawettabut seeded as number one. 2016 Champion - Hungary’s Szandra Pergel is seeded number two. Others are Italy’s Giorgia Piccolin (3), Luxembourg’s Sarah De Nutte (4), Italy’s Debora Vivarelli (5), Slovenia’s Alex Galic (6), Colombia’s Paula Medina (7), Nigeria’s Oshonaike (8), Norway’s Ilka Doval (9) and Egypt’s Yousra Helmy (10).
In the U-21 category, men’s defending champion - Romania’s Rares Sipos is the number one seed while Norway’s Ilka Doval is the number one seed in the women.
2018 African Youth Games bronze medalist, Esther Oribamise of Nigeria is listed among the top eight players seeded in the women’s U-21.
Three Nigerian players - Rilwan Akanbi, Nurudeen Hassan and Joshua Oladiran made the seeding list in the men’s U-21.
Meanwhile, 12 undergraduates from Nigerian higher institutions have been selected for the media workshop, being one of the legacies of the Africa’s elite tournament. They are expected to undergo a one-day training with the best four selected for an internship during the five-day championship.