Quadri, Meshref are Lagos Open top seeds

AS the highest world-rated players listed for the competition, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Egypt’s Dina Meshref have been seeded the top players in the men and women singles events of the Lagos leg of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour, tagged Lagos Open.

  In the seeding list released by ITTF Wednesday, Quadri, who is rated 32 in the world, is seeded number one, while his arch-rival and defending champion, Egypt’s Omar Assar is seeded number  two, with Assar’s compatriot, Mohammed El-Beiali as number three.

  The absence of Nigeria’s Segun Toriola may have paved the way for El-Beiali’s tournament number three seeding. The Egyptian accounted for Quadri’s exit in the quarterfinal stage of the ITTF Africa Senior Championships.

  Also listed in the top eight list of the men’s singles are Portugal’s Andre Silva, Nigeria’s Boboye Oyeniyan, Egypt’s Khalid Assar, Nigeria’s Ojo Onaolapo and Togo’s Mawussi Agbetoglo.

  Last year’s runner’s up and ITTF Africa Senior Championship winner, Meshref tops the women’s top four seeding list.

 Nigeria’s Funke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong are seeded two and three respectively, while Russia’s Irina Ermakova is fourth seed.

  In the U-21 seeding, defending champion in the boys’ category,  Nigeria’s Onaolapo is seeded number one, while other players in the top four seeding list are Egypt’s duo of Shady Magdy and Mahmoud Fathy, as well as Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo.

  Egypt dominated the girls’ U-21 seeding with 20 year-old Meshref topping the seeding list. Her compatriots – Fatma Alaa and Yousra Helmy also made the list, with Nigeria’s only player in the top four list being Funke Hassan.

Meanwhile, over 90 journalists drawn from newspapers, magazine, radio and television stations including two international media, Supersport and Xinhua have been accredited for the championship, which serves off on March 10 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, Nigeria.