The National Stadium in Lagos comes alive from Thursday September 14 as the table tennis team heading to Egypt for the Paralympic Games qualifiers begins camp just as the Paralympics Committee of Nigeria seeks more tickets to Paris 2024.
Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, Lesotho and five others are expected to converge in Cairo, Egypt from September 20 to 23 for the 2023 African Para Table Tennis Championships which is a qualification tournament for Paralympic Games and Commonwealth medallists – Isau Ogunkunle, Faith Obazuaye, Ifechukwude Ikpeoyi top the list of Nigerian contingent to the tournament.
Already, the players have arrived from their various bases in Lagos for the final preparation for the qualifiers as Ogunkunle, Obazuaye target their second appearance at the Paralympic Games while Ikpeoyi will be aiming for her first outing at the games.
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Being the final preparation before their departure next week to Egypt, Obazuaye, a two-time Commonwealth Games medallist believes she is aiming for a medal in Paris after narrowly missing out from podium at Tokyo 2020.
“I think I am ripe for a medal at the Paralympic Games as I was unlucky to have missed out from the podium in Tokyo being my first appearance. I am now experienced enough to know what I need to do to ensure I pick a medal in Paris,” the Edo State-born national champion said.
President of Paralympics Committee of Nigeria Sunday Odebode has said that Nigeria would be aiming for more slots at the Paralympic Games and they are ensuring that the team slug it out well with Egypt, the leading country in Africa in para table tennis.
“We are working hard to ensure we have more athletes in Paris. We just returned from the Para championships in Ghana and we want to ensure we expose our athletes to top class tournaments in readiness for their qualifiers and the games in France next year,” Odebode said.