The colourful decoration of the hall coupled with the presence of Lagos fans signalled the kick-off of the highest prize money tournament in the ITTF Challenge Series tagged ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open with players from 16 countries aiming to share from the overall $46,000 jackpot at stake.
From the matches played on Wednesday, Nigeria’s Azeez Jamiu gave the fans something to cheer after coming from 2-0 down to beat Russia’s Andrey Bukin 4-3 in an exciting encounter admired by the fans.
From the start of the match, it was as if Jamiu was going to play second fiddle to the European but applauds from the fans inspired the Nigerian to emerge winner against his Russian opponent.
A joyful Jamiu said he had to change tactics to overcome the Russian. “I discovered I was playing his pattern and I decided to change my tactics and this paid off for me. I am not in the competition to add to number but to aim for the podium. Being my first time, I am afraid of any of my opponent as my target is to win the title. I am aware of the quality of the players but for me rating does not win title,” he said.
On Thursday, the doubles event will start while the final round of the preliminary round of the singles events in men and U-21 hold with the 16 and eight players expected to make it to the main draw emerging.
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