By Francis Ajuonuma
After seven days of strong competition among the over 100 players from 26 country across the world, the curtain at the ongoing World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Lagos draws to a close today at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Indoor Sports Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
The finals will be in the women’s doubles, men’s doubles, women’s singles and men’s singles with no single Nigerian competing.
All the Nigerian players crashed out in the round of 32 in singles and round of 16 in the doubles leaving the stage for the foreign players to dominate in the tournament..
Today’s finals, especially the singles promises to be fire packed going by the performances of the players in the run up to this stage.
However, one player that stands out in this tournament is Li Yake of China, who competed in the women’s singles right from the qualifying stage, dumping out all opponents to reach this stage, where she will now face Korea’s Shin Yubin for the top prize.
In the men’s final it is going to be a tough match between former world number one and crowd favourite, German’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Zhou Qihao, who defeated Jonathan Groth 3-1 in the semi-final.
Speaking after his semi-final victory over Harmeet Desai of India, Ovtcharov said he is happy to be in the final which he admitted will a huge task.
“Of course, I’m proud and happy but I felt it from the beginning, from when I had the first practice here with my friend on Tuesday. I called my friend, Quadri Aruna and told him that I feel this is going to be a great tournament for me. So far, I am keeping watch.
“I am glad I am in the final but still, the most important match is ahead of me and is tomorrow and I want to give it another push to take the victory.
“I’m really pleased to be in the final after a hard match, but I came victorious because every single one was a big challenge.
“The tournament is not finished as the most important match ahead of me is tomorrow, the final, and I will give it another push to bring the victory home.
The battle for which pair emerge winners in the men’s doubles will be between the pair of Xiang Peng / Yuan Licen against the pair of Lim Jonghoon / Jang Woojin, while the women’s doubles will feature the pair of Liu Weishan / Fan Siqi against Jeon Jihee/Shin Yubin
However, the pair of Xiang Peng / Liu Weishan have emerged the mixed doubles champion after beating the pair of Jang Woojin /Jeon Jihee in yesterday’s final.
A total of $75, 000 and trophies will be won.
