ITTF Africa Senior Championships: Egypt, Nigeria seeded top, As Draw Holds On Thursday

Following their pedigree in the continent, Host – Egypt and Nigeria are top seeds for this week’s International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior Championships, which serves off in Cairo on Friday, January 23.

Also, the draw for the team events of the championship holds on Thursday January 23 in Cairo.

 However, the seeding once again confirmed the dominance of Egypt over Nigeria as well as their superiority in the continent.

In Cairo, the rivalry between Egypt and Nigeria will once again comes to fore as the North Africans are rated ahead of the West Africa giant in the team event of the championship.

 In the seeding list made released by the Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Egypt, which is the highest ranked African country in the world is seeded number one in men’s team event, while they are also seeded number one nation in the women division as well.

Despite Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri rise in the world rating, Egypt still holds the ace in the continent. Table tennis buffs believe the recent ranking is a reflection of years of setback suffered by Nigeria under various boards of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF).

But since the new board led by Wahid Oshodi, Nigeria is nearing closing up the gap with the North African following the exceptional performance of the Segun Toriola-captained side at the last World Team Championship in Japan.
 In the men’s seeding, other seeded teams among the 19 countries expected at the tournament are Congo Brazzaville, Algeria, Togo, Libya, Cameroun and Congo DRC for the men’s event.

 As the Egypt tops the seeding in the women event, other teams in the seeding list are Nigeria, Congo Brazzaville, Algeria Cameroun and Congo DRC. Egyptian players dominated the singles event with the trio of El-Sayed Lashin, Omar Assar and Ahmed Saleh seeded in top three while Nigeria’s Quadri is fourth on the seeding list.

 In the women’s seeding, Congo Brazzaville’s Han Xing tops, while Egypt’s trio of Dina Meshref, Nadeed El-Dawlatly and Farah Abdel-Aziz. Other top seed players are Nigeria’s duo of Offiong Edem and Funke Oshonaike. The draw for the team event holds tomorrow, while matchesserve off on Friday