ITTF Africa Senior Championships: Egypt’s Assar Vows To Stop Nigeria In Cairo.

Egypt’s Omar Assar became Lagos fans’ favourite in 2013 when he clinched the Lagos Classics title ahead of Nigeria’s Segun Toriola but with the rise of Aruna Quadri globally, the Egyptian believes Nigeria cannot stop them from sweeping medals at the forthcoming International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior Championships holding in Cairo next week.

Although he predicted a tough challenge in Cairo, the 2011 All Africa Games gold medalist said he is optimistic that Egypt can hold sway at home.

 “I hope it will be a very tight competition between all teams and players and I wish Egypt will dominate all events. But we respect all our opponents and we will not play to the gallery,” he said.

The Mediterranean Games champion believes the presence of Aruna Quadri-inspired Nigeria as well as Congo Brazzaville and Tunisia would pose a major challenge to Egypt. “We will surely face tough challenge from top teams especially Nigeria, Congo Brazzaville and Tunisia and I believe this will add a special taste to the tournament.”

 Assar, who is yet to play to his optimum in the last one year, believes he can re-enact his form in Cairo. “I am looking forward to perform my best at the tournament especially as it is holding in Cairo and I am sure this impart positively on table tennis in Egypt with the quality of players expected at the seven-day tournament.”

The 23-year-old Egyptian star is however, inspired by the feat achieved by Nigeria’s Quadri, describing it as a plus to the game in Africa. “Quadri is a good player and what he achieved in 2014 was something that will make surely inspire a lot of us to aim to break his record in future,” he added.

 Following the not-too-impressive performance by the North African at the just concluded ITTF World Team Cup, Assar said he had a good outing having beaten Austria’s Stefan Fegerl in one of the matches.

“Nothing went wrong for us in Dubai because we had a good preparation before the competition and personally I am satisfied with my performance following the win against Austria’s Stefan Fegerl,” Assar added.