Four Nigerian players including Portugal-based Aruna Quadri and Edem
Offiong will begin their campaigns on Wednesday at the International
Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)-sanctioned World Tour tagged Spanish
Open.
  Being the fourth ITTF World Tour for Quadri, while Offiong is making
her first appearance in the tournament as part of her build up to this
month’s World Championship in Japan.
  Other Nigerian players taking part in the five-day championship
include Kazeem Makanjuola and Ganiyat Olatunde-Aruna.
  In the draw released by the organisers on Tuesday, Quadri has been
drawn in Group 10 of the preliminary round alongside Spain’s Carlos
Franco and Jersey’s Joshua Band, while Offiong has been pitched
against Russia’s Yulia Prokhova and England’s Hannah Kicks in Group
seven of the women’s singles.
  Makanjuola, who is yet to win a match at some of the tours attended so
far will tackle Spain’s Alfredo Carneros and Venezuela’s Nelson
Villanueva in Group 13 of the men’s singles event.
  Olatunde-Aruna, who is making her second appearance in the ITTF World
Tour will confront India’s Shanim Kunaresan, Bulgaria’s Kutsiaryna
and Spain’s Elena Lopez for a place in the main draw of the women’s
singles.
  Aside the singles event, the players will also compete in the
preliminary stage of the doubles event on Thursday.
  Quadri’s first group match will be against Jersey’s Band on table
one on Wednesday, while Makanjuola will also be in action against
Venezuela’s Villanueva on table three.
  Quadri and Makanjuola will play their last group match on Thursday to
know their fate in the singles event before turning to the doubles
event.
  Quadri, who arrived Almeria city, venue of the competition on Monday
said he was sure of making to the main draw having narrowly missed out
from playing in the last 64 at the Kuwait, Qatar and German Opens.
  “I think I need to raise my game in Spain because my Spanish
opponent is a familiar foes I played against during the European Table
Tennis Union Championship recently. I won 3-2 and I hope to repeat same
feat in Spain on Wednesday,” Quadri said.
  Meanwhile, Austria’s Liu Jia, the number two seed is the most
successful player in the history of the ITTF World Tour on duty in the
women singles event of the 2014 ITTF World Tour Spanish Open.
  Jia has also four ITTF World Tour Women’s Singles titles to her
name; she won in Rio de Janeiro in 2004, in Berlin in 2008 and in
Olomouc in 2012; more pertinently she has been in outstanding form in
2014.  In addition to winning the Women’s Singles event at the DHS
Europe Cup in Lausanne, on the ITTF World Tour she succeeded in the
Hungarian city of Szombathely, before being the runner up in Doha.
  Sayaka Hirano and Jia are two of four players, who will be in action
in Almeria who have clinched ITTF World Tour Women’s Singles titles.
  The two further names are Sayaka Hirano’s colleague, Yuka Ishigaki,
she won in Cairo in 2010 and the most recent winner of all, Germany’s
Shan Xiaona who won on Sunday 30th March in Magdeburg.
  Over $100,000 will be at stake at the tournament, which is one of the
major competitions in the ITTF World Tour.