Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) is making efforts at ensuring that Nigeria secures one of the nine slots at stake at the ITTF World Team Qualification Event holding in Gondomar, Portugal from January 22 to 26 next year.
And to make this a reality, the federation through its President, Ishaku Tikon is seeking the financial support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports to be able to present a team for the final Olympics qualifiers.
Already, the federation has made a preliminary entry which has Aruna Quadri, Segun Toriola, Bode Abiodun and Olajide Omotayo who are all based in Europe but as the deadline for the final entry closes tomorrow, the NTTF boss believes getting the nod of the sports ministry would make the trip possible for the team.
“I think we have a comparative advantage to qualify for the team event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the final qualifiers holding early next year in Portugal,” he said.“ There is no doubt that most of us are still pained by the loss of the continental sole ticket to Egypt at the 2019 African Games but with the present form of our players coupled with their world rating, they can go through in Portugal.” he said.
According to the world table tennis ruling body, nine teams across the globe are expected to pick their places in the team event of the Olympic Games in Portugal.
National coach, Nosiru Bello said that attending the qualifying tournament in Portugal has becomes important for the team having showed some promises at the just concluded ITTF Team World Cup in Tokyo, Japan.