Idris Adesina
The Nigeria Table Tennis Federation on Thursday named the players to represent the country at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia next month.
They are veteran player Segun Toriola, Aruna Quadri, Jamiu Azeez, Portugal-based Bode Abiodun, who is Quadri’s teammate at Sporting, and Italy-based Omotayo Olajide.
Nigeria are expected to compete in the men’s singles and men’s team events in Gold Coast.
Toriola is currently ranked 261 by the ITTF in the world and third in Nigeria. The player, who has featured in seven Olympics, last featured in the ITTF Africa Top 16 in Kenya, where he lost at the quarterfinal to Congo’s Saheed Idowu.
Africa’s second ranked player Quadri won silver at the ITTF Africa Top 16 in Kenya after losing to Egyptian rival Omar Assar.
Olajide is Nigeria’s second best player and is currently ranked 207 by the ITTF and Azeez is the 2016 and 2017 national junior champion while Abiodun last competed for Nigeria in 2017 at the Nigeria Open, where he upset Quadri in the round of 16 of the men’s singles.
In para-table tennis, Holland-based Tope Ogunsanya (male) and Faith Bazuaye (female) will represent the country at the Games
National coach Nosiru Bello said he picked the players on current form, adding that the country wants to build on the success of Glasgow 2014.
He said, “Aruna is the best Nigerian player currently and no one can dispute that. Toriola is experienced and has proved many times he can deliver on the international scene. Omotayo is also doing well in Italy while Bode is also in good form. Jamiu is on the team to learn more and build his confidence,” he said.
“Our target is to do better than what we did in 2014. That is why these set of players were selected.”
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