ITTF World Team Championships: Nigeria, Egypt maintain 2nd tier position

After failing to qualify to the elite division at the biennial International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Team Championships, Nigeria and Egypt will again campaign in second tier in 2018.

An ITTF statement said on Saturday in Lagos that from the rating of teams, Egypt finished ahead of Nigeria in the rankings

It explained that it was so because Egypt made it to the semi-finals stage, while Nigeria did not advance beyond the quarter-finals round.

As it is, Egypt is ranked 27th, while Nigeria occupies 29th place at the championships which will end on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the race for the African sole slot in the men’s team event for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games continues between Nigeria and Egypt.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that players from both countries aim to garner points to become the best team from the continent.

With the absence of Nigerian women team, Egypt has automatically qualified for the women’s team event of the Olympic Games in Brazil.

Nigeria will have to wait for the decision of ITTF to know its fate in the women’s cadre after the West African side failed to make it to the tournament.

Also, Asian giants — China and Japan will battle for the titles in the men and women finals of the competition.

To berth in the final of the men’s event, China edged out South Korea 3-0, while Japan worked hard for their 3-1 win over giant killing English team.

For the women’s final, it is China and Japan again after China beat Chinese Taipei 3-0 with Japan dismissing Korea DPR 3-1.

Over 90 teams from across the world are taking part in the biggest tournament in the ITTF calendar which will end on Sunday.