1st Daniel Ford Youth T’Tennis Ends in Style

From the hundreds of players that started the journey to the podium on Thursday, December 21 at the 1st Daniel Ford International Elite Youth Invitational National Table Tennis Championships, the colorful grand finale of the two-day tournament takes place on Friday, December 22 with winners emerging in four events.

The Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium was a beehive of activities as the two-day tournament sponsored by UK-based property firm, Daniel Ford International and organized by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) comes to a climax with new champions in the U-145 and U-19 crowned.

Impressed with the quality of play on day one of the championships, ITTF Vice President Wahid Oshodi believes the future of the sport is bright, especially in the boys category.

“I think the hosting of international tournaments is paying off at last because most of the players now have their style of play with more attack-minded players emerging now. I believe we will have better players than the likes of Quadri Aruna and for me this is what we need now to unearth players and later nurture them just like we did for the likes of Olajide Omotayo. The final will surely be explosive because what I saw in the preliminary has given me an insight into what to expect in the finale tomorrow (Friday),” Oshodi said.

For the Vice President of NTTF, Adesoji Tayo, the sponsor should be lauded for identifying with the sport and it would allow the federation to select junior teams for major competitions in 2024 as well as pick players that will be groomed to team up with the national senior team for next year’s major competitions like the African Games and Championships.

For the founder and CEO of Daniel Ford International, Yemi Edun, bankrolling the tournament is in line with his passion for the sport.

Apart from the mouth-watering prize money, boarding and feeding of all invited players and officials will be bankrolled by the sponsors.