Africa’s most decorated table tennis legend, Segun Toriola, will lead Nigeria’s contingent to the 2024 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships (WTTC) in Busan, South Korea, from February 16 to 25.
According to the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Toriola was picked based on his wealth of experience and cordial relationship with most of the top players in the national team.
With the retirement of former national coach, Nosiru Sule, last year, the federation said Toriola became the best option to handle the teams to the WTTC, which also serves as a qualifying tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Toriola’s name is synonymous with Nigerian and African table tennis having won numerous African titles and appearing in seven Olympic Games.
At the Busan 2024 WTTC, the Nigerian men’s team has been drawn against Japan, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic and Madagascar in Group 8.
There are eight groups of five countries, each aiming to advance to the knockout rounds.
Egypt, the African champions, will battle with Portugal, Romania, Iran and Thailand, while Algeria will face France, Australia, Denmark and Austria.
In the women’s category, the Nigerian team is grouped against Germany, Slovakia, Poland and Mexico, while the Egyptian ladies will slug it out with European teams – France, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Croatia in Group 8.
Algeria’s women face the massive task of battling Chinese Taipei, U.S., Thailand and Chile in their group. The South African women’s team is pitted against Japan, Brazil, Luxembourg and Iran in Group 2 of the women’s event.
China, the defending WTTC champions, occupy the top-seeded positions in both the men’s and women’s team events as the country’s ladies are placed in Group 1 with Hungary, India, Spain and Uzbekistan.
Each group will play in a round-robin format, with each team playing against the other four teams in their group. After the round-robin stage, the top three teams from each group will advance to the knockout phase. The top eight from the tournament get automatic tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The Nigerian delegation hopes for improved performance and a chance to clinch the Olympic tickets for both men’s and women’s events. In 2023, Nigeria missed out on the continent’s sole ticket to the Games after losing in both gender categories to Egypt at the African Championships in Tunis.
