Anders Lind of Denmark the quarterfinalist at the 2023 World Table Tennis Championships, WTTC in Durban, South Africa, will lead the list of players that will slug it out in the preliminary round of the WTT Contender Lagos.
The WTT Contender Lagos, the second in the series and the first WTT in Sub-Saharan Africa, serves off on Monday, June 12 at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
It is one of the three WTT Contender events taking place in Africa this year following the successful staging of the WTT Contender Durban in South Africa while the WTT Contender Tunis will take place later this month in Tunisia.
Meanwhile, Lind, who jumped 132 positions from World No.180 to World No.48 after a campaign in Durban in Week 22 of the ITTF World Rankings, will compete for eight slots in the preliminary round alongside third-round finisher in Durban Mihai Bobocica of Italy.
While Bobocica, a third-round finisher in Durban and currently ranked 81 in the world is returning to Lagos since 2013 when he crashed out early in the now-rested Lagos Table Tennis Classics.
The 24 players in the men’s and women’s categories have already been listed in the main draw based on their world rating, eight slots each are up for grabs to complete the 32-player main draw.
Lind and Bobocica will be joined by 52 others to contest for the eight slots in the men’s singles while 35 women from 14 countries will slug it out in the preliminary round for the eight available spots in the main draw of the women’s singles.
Host country Nigeria expectedly has the largest number of players in the preliminary as they are hoping to join the likes of Taiwo Mati, Olajide Omotayo, Fatimo Bello, and Edem Offiong in the main draw following the absence of their talisman and Africa’s number one, Quadri Aruna due to club engagement.
Players will battle for 75,000 USD in prize money across several categories as they also try to pick up ranking points ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
