Ishaku Tikon, the President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, says Team Nigeria’s performance at the World Team Table Tennis Championship at Halmstad in Sweden can yield any result.
Tikon told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday that “anything can happen in table tennis.
He said: “Nobody believed Aruna Quadri will reach the finals of the table tennis event at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
“Timo Boll, currently world number two, had defeated Chinese Ma Long, the world’s highest-ranked player, in the Men’s World Cup last year.
“But Boll also lost to Quadri at the Rio Olympic Games. So, I cannot say if we will reach the championship stage or not.”
NAN reports that Nigeria is in Group F alongside Slovakia Republic, Argentina, Australia, Turkey and Bulgaria in the men’s team division two.
After playing a round-robin, the best four teams advance to the semi-finals and the two teams in the finals will qualify for the championship stage which will take place in 2020.
The trio of veteran Segun Toriola, Olajide Omotayo and Bode Abiodun will join Quadri to face Turkey on April 29, Argentina on April 30 and Slovakia on May 1.
The team will also battle Bulgaria on May 2 and later Australia on May 3.
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