RON Open Table Tennis Championship:Organisers Increase Prize Money.

To attract more players to this year’s Reach Out Nigeria (RON) Open  Championship, organisers have increased the prize money to N3million.

According to the coordinator of the tournament, Ayo Olufemi, the prize  money has been raised by 50 percent in order to encourage more players  within and outside the country to be part of the one-week tournament  holding next week in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

  “We actually started the competition at local level in Uyo with  initial prize money of N1million but last year we increased it to  N2million and this year, we are staking N3million for all the top three  players in the 10 events to be competed during the competition.

 For us, this is a community development project of Uyo branch of Christ Embassy  and we will continue to add innovation every year,” he said.

Olufemi, however, said that the tournament most times coincides with the annual Reach Out Nigeria Campaign, an initiative of Love World  Ministry to celebrate Nigeria’s Independence anniversary.

“With the RON tournament, table tennis is fast becoming a bride to sponsors as most of the players that had featured in the competition are  now national champions. For us, this is a way to touch lives positively  across the country and another avenue by the church to affect the lives  of others,” he added.

For the International umpire, John Peters, this year’s tournament hopes to be better organized, as the experience garnered during the  Lagos Classics would be handy for the officials.

Peters, however, assured that age cheat among the players would be  taken serious by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) as thorough  screening would be carried out among the junior players.

Meanwhile, champion and runner’s up at the first Lagos International  Table Tennis Classics, Cecilia Otu-Akpan and Edem Offiong have confirmed  their participation in the tournament.

The players who are at present shaping up for the competition in Calabar are hoping to reenact their form that aided their success at the  Lagos Classics.

Southpaw Seun Ajetunmobi and Offiong are defending champions in the  men and women singles events.