Onaolapo, Sunshine win NTTF pilot league, as federation plans big

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In readiness for the World Championship in Japan next month, Ojo Onaolapo single-handedly claimed the singles title as well as aided Sunshine to win the club title at the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) pilot league.

The seven-day tournament ended at the weekend with Onaolapo amassing 100points to be crowned the overall winner as well as the highest earning player in the competition.

To beat Nigeria Civil Defence Service Corps team one to the title, Sunshine also garnered 157 points to emerge as the club champion.

Onaolapo who will be making his second appearance at the World Team Championship in Tokyo after been named among the 10-man team that hoist Nigeria’s flag at the global tournament.

Besides mopping the highest points, Onaolapo won four of the six finals played in the competition and at the weekend he confirmed his superiority with an easy win over his opponent.

Also, Kazeem Makanjuola, who will be making his World Championship outing for Nigeria in Japan finished second behind Onaolapo in the singles while his performance also helped NCDSC to settle for second place ahead of G20 in the club event.

For the President, NTTF, Wahid Oshodi, the tournament would be bigger come October as the federation plans to expand the scope of the competition.

“We are excited with the pilot league and this has shown to use that there is hope in the country as are also plan to give more players the opportunity to be part of the championship. We are happy with the performance of the players and we hope to see more of this in October when we start the league proper,” he said.

Over 20 clubs and hundreds of players took part in the one-week league held at the new look knock-up hall of the National Stadium in Lagos.