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Nigerian official eyes Chinese partnership in table tennis

Xinhua, March 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Olaranti Lajide, tournament director for the ongoing International Table Tennis Federation World Tour, Lagos Open, has called for partnership between Nigeria and China to revive the sport in his country.

Lajide, a table tennis coach and former player, described table tennis as a sport popular across the world and said Nigeria needs the "expertise from China" in this regard.

Early in the 1970s, Nigeria sent 12 teenagers from its then 12 states to China where they received training in table tennis for six months.

Lajide told Xinhua the Nigerian Table Tennis Federation looks forward to signing new agreements with China.

"China takes a lead in table tennis and we can make progress with its help," he said.

The coach said he would like to see top-ranked players visit Nigeria, and the Chinese have dominated the world ranking.

"Once they come to our tournament, believe or not, a lot of people will come and watch it because it is a challenge for players around the world to beat the best Chinese players," he said.

The world ranking event kicked off in Nigeria's commercial hub of Lagos on Monday and will run until 14 March.

Eighty-two players from 11 countries and regions are competing in the 46,000 U.S. dollars prize money championship. Endi