The Nigeria Table Tennis Federation has announced its teams for several tournaments in Africa and the region. The players will head to Ghana and Guinea later this month.
A list released over the weekend shows that Umar Ayoola, Habeeb Adebayo, Emmanuella Shaibu, and Elizabeth Eminike will represent Nigeria at the 2026 Africa Hopes Week & Challenges. This event is set for July 13, 18 in Accra.
Matthew Kuti will lead Nigeria's team to the Western Region Championships in Guinea. He will be joined by Abdulbasit Abdulfatai, Funmilayo Ojo, and Khadijat Okanlawon.
Nigeria aims to defend its men's and women's singles titles against teams from West Africa from July 15, 18. Both singles and team titles are up for grabs.
At the African Youth Championships, Kuti will again captain the boys’ U-19 team. He will play alongside Sultan Agunbiade, Matthew Fabunmi, and Quadri Atunwon.
The girls’ U-19 team includes Ojo, Okanlawon, Kabirat Ayoola, and Khadijah Musa. For the U-15 category, Joseph Victor, Samson Joshua, Joseph Marvelous, and Ayoola will represent the boys. The girls’ team will be made up of Aishat Rabiu, Aziza Sezuo, Chinenye Okafor, and Elizabeth Emelike.
NTTF President Adesoji Tayo said the squads were well chosen and prepared during their training camp at Babcock University. He thanked the Vice Chancellor, Professor Afolarin Ojewole, for hosting the camp. Tayo noted that the facilities were great for the players' final preparations.
Coach Dotun Omoniyi, who led the training team at the camp, expressed confidence in the players' readiness.
"I am confident that the teams will all do well in the tournaments because the camping exercise has really helped the players to get used to new techniques in table tennis. We are not going there to add to the numbers but to compete for titles," he said as the Hopes Week team left for Accra.
The camp will continue this week, with the team going to Guinea scheduled to depart on July 14.
The Ghana team will leave Nigeria on July 18 before the Youth Championships start on July 20 in Accra.
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