England’s Sam Walker set target for 2018 International Table Tennis Federation

England’s Sam Walker has stated that personal target motivated him to take in this year’s International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Challenge Seamaster Nigeria Open slated for the Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, between August 8 and 12.

Walker earlier this year won bronze medal for the English team at the ITTF World Team Cup in London.

He was also part of the team that helped his country to win bronze medal at the World Team Championship in Malaysia in 2016.

The player, who was at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, said: “I decided to be part of the 2018 Nigeria Open for my individual goals.

The Challenge Series are important for me and the Nigerian Open is part of that model. So it’s a good opportunity for to try and perform and reach the later rounds of the tournament.

“I haven’t heard much about the Nigeria Open to be honest.

I know it holds in Lagos almost every year and this time around the tournament fits in my schedule.

So I’m looking forward to taking part and doing my best,” he said.

Speaking on what Nigerians should expect from him, the 23-year-old player, said: “I’m looking forward to competing of course, but I’ve also never been to Nigeria before and so I’m always excited to visit new countries.

“It will be my second time in Africa, I played the World Junior Championships in Morocco in 2014 when I was younger, but it will be my first time in Nigeria.

“My target for the tournament is to perform at my level and then we will see what the outcome is.

It will be the first tournament of my season and so it’s just important for me to perform on the level that I know I can play and then I know I have a chance to challenge for the title,” he stated.