They were not recognized players at national level but with their performance at the maiden Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) U-16 Super League, Lagos’ Emmanuel Augustine and Kwara’s Iyanuoluwa Falana have endeared themselves into the heart of the national handlers after emerging winners at the one-day championship.
The tournament held at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium witnessed the presence of 20 top U-16 players across the country with 12 boys and eight girls slugging it out for the top prize.
One of the tournament’s favourites, Abayomi Animashaun became the first culprit when the Ekiti State-born national junior sensation was shown the exit in the group stage of the competition.
Having dominated the qualifiers to the Super League, southpaw Augustine proved his mettle as the best U-16 male player across the country with a 4-1 (11-2, 12-10, 11-8, 5-11, 12-10) bashing of Lagos’ Obayomi Michael in the boys’ singles, while Falana also beat Kwara’s Rofiat Jimoh to the title with a 4-2 (11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-7) to the girls’ singles title.
An elated President of NTTF, Wahid Oshodi lauded the participants for their good performance while predicting that some of the players would surely dazzle during the ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open, which serves off on Wednesday May 18 with over 120 players from 16 countries aiming to share from the $46,000 prize money.
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