Having featured in two International Table Tennis Federation
(ITTF)-sanctioned World Tours without any win but on Wednesday in the
city of Almeria, Spain, Nigeria’s Kazeem Makanjuola recorded his first
victory at the ongoing Tour tagged Spanish Open.
  On Thursday, Nigerian players will be on duty as the doubles events
take centre stage at the five-day $100,000 prize money championship.
  Prior to the resounding victory against Venezuela’s Nelson
Villamieva, Makanjuola, a bronze medalist at the maiden Lagos Classics
had suffered defeats at the Kuwait and Qatar Opens earlier this year,
while he narrowly missed out from competing at the German Open. However,
he halted his strings of loss on table three when he pounded his
Venezuelan counterpart, 11-4, 11-3, 11-6, 11-4 with his last hurdle to
secure a place in the main draw holding on Thursday against Spain’s
Alfredo Carneros on table six.
  Before departing for the tournament, southpaw Makanjuola had said that
he would return to the country empty-handed having tasted defeats in his
two appearances at the World Tour. Also knowing fully well that amassing
defeats might raised a question about his inclusion in the Team Nigeria
to the 2014 World Championship in Japan later this month.
  Again, Ganiat Olatunde-Aruna failed to overcome India’s Shamini
Kumaresan in her first group match despite making several spirited
efforts in the encounter. But it was the Indian lady that carried the
day with a 13-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-6 win.
  In the preliminary of the doubles events, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and
Makanjuola got a bye to the last 32 where they are expected to tackle
Denmark’s duo of Mikkel Hindesson and Kasper Sternberg on Thursday.
Also, the pair of Olatunde-Aruna and Edem Offiong will confront Chinese
Taipei’s Hsin Huang and Hsing-Yin Liu on Thursday as well.
  Meanwhile, Alexandre Robinot is one of three Frenchmen who are
prominent in the qualification stage of the Men’s Singles event; the
two others are Thomas Le Breton and Benjamin Brossier. Thomas Le Breton
is the third highest globally rated in action; Benjamin Brossier is
sixth on the list.
  They have been impressed during their careers on the international
stage as well as their compatriots - Antoine Hachard, Jeremy Petiot, Can
Akkuzu and Mehdi Bouloussa, who will compete in the group qualification
stage of the Men’s Singles event.