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Lagos agog for 1st Daniel Ford Youth Table Tennis Championships
The much-anticipated 1st Daniel Ford International Elite Youth Invitational National Table Tennis Championships will ignite Lagos from Thursday December 21 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, Nigeria.
The two-day tournament is sponsored by UK-based property firm, Daniel Ford International and organised by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) with the aim of unearthing talents, as well as contributing to the growth of table tennis in the country.
Top players across the country in the U-15 and U-19 for boys and girls divisions will compete for honours at the mouth-watering prize money championships.
According to the Vice President of NTTF, Adesoji Tayo, the tournament would afford the federation the opportunity to select 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.
“We are excited that someone has identified with the ideals of the federation at supporting youth development with special focus on our junior players. We must commend his interest and passion in our sport, and we hope others will follow. For us as a federation we are going to use the tournament to assemble our teams for major junior tournaments next year while some of the players will be called to senior national camps ahead of major competitions in 2024. We need to get our young players competing at top level as this is what obtains globally for now. The world number two is just 18 years old and ours should not be an exception,” Tayo said.
For the founder and CEO of Daniel Ford International, Yemi Edun, bankrolling the tournament is in line with his passion for the sport.
“Table tennis was widely played at homes and on the streets growing up, but I also lived in Surulere, which was and still is, to some extent, the sports capital of Nigeria.
“In fact, the National Stadium located in Surulere is also known as Sports City and living in this neighbourhood made me acutely aware of all things sport, including table tennis. Aside from that, I grew up during a period when table tennis legends like Atanda Musa were routinely featured on the front pages of national newspapers,” he said.
