Africa table tennis serves off

Kenya table tennis player Thakkar Sejal during a practice session at Oshwal Sports Complex, Parklands, Nairobi on Saturday, February 24, 2018. [Stafford Ondego/www.sportpicha.com]

The ITTF Africa Continental Cup serves off this morning at Kasarani with Kenya’s hopes resting on Thakkar Sejal and Brian Mutua in the three-day table tennis tournament.

Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri is the reigning men’s champion while Egypt’s Dinah Meshref is the African queen.

The championships promises fireworks as Quadri, ranked 20th in the world, will come face to face with Egypt’s Assar Omar (16th globally) in his bid to retain the title and a World Cup slot.

The Egyptian is seeded first based on his higher world ranking while Quadri is second. Predictably, Egypt’s Meshref, winner of the last four editions is the first seed in the women category followed by Oshonaike Olufunke.

Kenya’s rising star Mutua is seeded 15th, which means he will come up against Africa’s best in the early stages of the competition just as Sejal, who is also ranked lowly.

Despite the apparent mountain to climb for the Kenyans, national team coach Fahd Daim has urged fans to turn up in large numbers to cheer on their local heroes.

“Mutua and Sejal have trained well and what remains is that moral support from home fans. They have responded well to training,” Daim said.