Nigeris’s Table Tennis Superstar, Segun Toriola is expected to lead Team Nigeria for the ITTF World Team Table Championships in South Korea.
The Championship is scheduled to commence from February 16th to February 25th at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO) in Busan. According to the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Segun Toriola was chosen based on his wealth of experience and good relationships with most of the top players in the national team.
After the retirement of the Former National Coach, Nosiru Sule in 2023, the Federation appointed Toriola to lead the team to Korea which serves as a qualifying phase for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Segun Toriola has won different African titles and also played in seven Olympic games. The Nigeria Men’s Team has been grouped with Japan, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic and Madagascar in Group 5. In each group, there are 5 teams in each with each country looking to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
African Champions, Egypt will face Portugal, Romania, Iran and Thailand while Algeria will face France, Australia, Denmark and Austria. In the women’s category, Nigeria Ladies will face Germany, Slovakia, Poland and Mexico while the Egyptian ladies will play France, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Croatia. Algeria women will face Chinese Taipei, USA, Thailand and Chile in their group.
Nigeria will be hoping to do better in South Korea after missing out on the continent’s sole ticket to the Games losing both gender categories to Egypt in Tunisia. Each group at the WTTC Championships will play in a round-robin format with each team playing against the other four teams in their groups. After the round-robin stage, the top three teams in each group will advance to the knockout stages with the top eight teams getting automatic tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics in France.
