The Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) intends to camp 16 players for its preparations for the 2018 Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast in Australia, according to reports. Ishaku Tikon, President of NTTF, said the players would be drawn from the ongoing National Open Championships in Lagos.

The tournament, which also serves as the trials for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, has over 300 players participating.

 

Tikon said selected players who reach the semi-finals of the tournament in both male and female categories of both the para-table tennis and able-class events would resume camp on Sunday.

 

The federation president also added that the championship’s other aim was to discover talents to replace African champion Aruna Quadri.

 

“The aim of the event is basically to select the 16 male and female players who will resume camping this Sunday. The second aim is to discover and groom players, because Aruna alone cannot continue to fly the country’s flag. Our target is to produce as many Arunas as possible and we are making tremendous progress in that regard,’’ he added.

 

The tournament will end this weekend.