ITTF Releases Prospectus For Lagos World Tour

To acquaint countries about the staging of the 2014 Lagos World Tour,  the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Thursday released  the official prospectus for the tournament holding in June this year.


The world table tennis ruling body has also uploaded the prospectus on its website for the 214 national associations.


According to the ITTF Director of Competitions, Karl Jindrak, the Lagos World Tour tagged Nigeria Open is one of the Challenge Series listed by ITTF on its 2014 calendar.


Players hoping to be part of the championship are expected to register through their national associations, while the preliminary entries commence on May 10 with the final entries for singles on May 24.


There will be a charge of $150 cancellation fee for each player cancelled after the entry deadline. This period starts on the day of closing the final entries, one month before the event. These cancellation amounts will be added to the association’s invoice to be paid together with the hospitality costs to the organizers either by bank transfer or by cash on site,” Jindrak said.


He added: “Associations with pending payments of cancellation fee will not be allowed to enter any World Tour events as long as the payment is not fulfilled.”


Four events – men and women singles as well as U-21 men and women singles will be competed at the four-day championship holding at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.


The total prize money for the tournament is $39,700 with men singles winner carting home $5,000.


The Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) organizes the tournament with support from the Lagos State Government.


Egypt’s Omar Assar who beat Nigeria’s Segun Toriola to emerge champion at the maiden edition of the tournament tagged Lagos Classics has promised to return to Lagos to defend his title, while CeciliOtu-Akpan who defied all odds to lift the title in the women event will be part of the Nigerian team to the World Championship in Tokyo, Japan.