Nigeria Begins Quest For Honours, Tackles Indonesia, India

More than 200 countries converge in Tokyo, Japan for the 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championship,as Team Nigeria will on Monday April 28, begins quest for honours against Indonesia and India in the men and
women events of the competition.

Having failed to gain promotion to the championship division in 2012, the Segun Toriola-captained side will taste action on the opening day in Group E when they take on the Asia side in the first match of the
preliminary round at the Yoyogi Gymnasium in Tokyo.
   
Indonesia is rated below Nigeria and table tennis buffs believe the Asian side should not pose a threat to Nigeria’s ambition in the competition.

But on Tuesday April 29, Nigeria will confront the two tough teams in the group – Czech Republic and Belgium.
On Wednesday April 30, the team will take on Bosnia-Herzegovina while its last group match on May 1 will be against Canada.

Also on Monday, the women team led by German-based Funke Oshonaike will face their Commonwealth perennial foe, India in the first match of Group G.
 
On Tuesday April 29, the team will battle Bulgaria and Italy, while on Wednesday April 30, it will clash against Portugal. The team last group match is against Turkey on May 1.

The top teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinal stage with the last four teams gaining promotion to the championship division in 2016.

In 2010 and 2012, Nigeria’s male team made significant efforts to progress to the elite division but their efforts were not enough to secure a place for the team.

In the men’s seeding of Group E, Czech Republic is the top seeded team in division two and the team and Belgium are rated above Nigeria in the group.

However, the female team has not been impressive since 2008 in Guangzhou, China while at the 2012 edition in Dortmund, Germany, the team managed to escape relegation to division three. In this year’s edition, the trio of India, Italy and Turkey are seeded ahead of Nigeria while Portugal and Bulgaria are lower than Nigeria in the rating.

In the championship division, defending champion - China has been drawn in Group A alongside Austria, Russia, Brazil, Poland and Serbia, while Germany is in Group B with Hong Kong, Croatia, Singapore, Denmark and Ukraine.

Host – Japan has been pitched against Portugal, France, Greece, Romania and Hungary in Group C, while South Korea will tackle the likes of Chinese Taipei, Sweden, Belarus, Spain and North Korea in Group D.

Meanwhile, the duo of Oshonaike and Aruna Quadri believes the world  rating of Italy and Czech Republic cannot intimidate Nigeria when they  confront these European sides in Tokyo.