African Champion, Egyptian Assar, Confirms For Lagos International Table Tennis Classics

 

 

 

 

 

African champion and one of the world’s most promising players, Egypt’s Omar Assar has been confirmed for the first Lagos International Table  Tennis Classics holding this month.

 

Assar’s participation was at the weekend confirmed to the Main Organising Committee (MOC) by the Executive Director, Egypt Table Tennis Federation (ETTF), Hesham M. Abou-Hashish.

 

The Mediterranean Games champion is ranked 60 in the world and he is the highest ranked African player in the world.

 

At the 2013 World Team Classic, Assar won crucial matches against top  players like Zhe Yu Clarence Chew of Singapore and Patrick Franziska of  Germany, which gave Egypt the bronze medal.

 

He also displayed an outstanding performance in the 2013 World Championships held in Paris, when he beat Romania's Adrian Crisan in the round of 32: and fell against Robert Gardos of Austria in the next round. But at the 2013 Mediterranean Games, he showed his class to win  the men’s singles title.

 

Assar is a winner of no less than six titles on the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Junior Circuit, and in his first outing at the 2011 All Africa Games in Mozambique, the 22 year-old Egyptian
dethroned Nigeria’s Segun Toriola after winning the men’s singles to collect his first major senior title.

 

Assar was sidelined with shoulder injury in 2011 but he had to undergo surgery to make a return in Mozambique, to become the only player to go through the whole tournament unbeaten in singles matches.

 

It was also in Mozambique that he won the ticket to London 2012, where he made it to the second round of the tournament.

 

According to the Tournament Director, Ranti Lajide, the presence of Assar would surely add glamour and make the tournament more competitive.

 

 “I want to say that the presence of Omar Assar will raise the standard of the championship because this is one player that spearheaded the dominance of Egypt senior team over Nigerian team. He is one player from Africa capable of becoming a world champion, certainly, he will the cynosure of all eyes at the championship,” Lajide said.

 

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) approved tournament is the highest prize money tournament in Africa, being organized by the Main Organising Committee  of Lagos International Sports Classics in collaboration with the Nigeria
Table Tennis Federation (NTTF).
 

Players will compete in the senior and junior categories made up of 10 events, while the tournament will be staged according to ITTF and ATTF rules.
 

Deadline for players’ entry has been fixed for August 13, while qualifying matches in all events for Nigerian based players hold on August 22 to 23.

 

Officials from ITTF and ATTF will also be part of the tournament holding at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, Lagos, from August 26 to 31.