ITTF: Omotayo, Quadri For WTT

  By Sampson Adedeji Ahead of the World Table Tennis tournament, International Table Tennis Federation ( ITTF) has listed Nigeria's duo of Aruna Quadri and Olajide Omotayo For upcoming tournament slated for Lusail Sport Arena, Doha, Qatar,BSNSports.com.ng reports. The Middle East Hub will feature two tiers of the new WTT event structure. The 2021 calendar will kick off with WTT Contender Doha before players move onto the first WTT Star Contender event the following week, providing the perfect preparation for some of the world’s leading stars to be challenged by the best up-and-coming athletes in table tennis. Among the world-class talent set to light up Doha in the men’s events are Xu Xin (China, world-ranked #2), Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan, WR #5), Hugo Calderano (Brazil, WR #6) and Lin Yun-Ju (Chinese Taipei, WR #7). Meanwhile, Sun Yingsha (China, WR #2), Mima Ito (Japan, WR #3), Liu Shiwen (China, WR #7) and Cheng I-Ching (Chinese Taipei, WR #8) will be headlining both of the women’s events. WTT Star Contender Doha will see more elite players taking to the table, including Mattias Falck (Sweden, WR #8), Jang Woojin (Korea Republic, WR #11) and Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Germany, WR #12) in the men’s draw and Kasumi Ishikawa (Japan, WR #9), Miu Hirano (Japan, WR #11) and Feng Tianwei (Singapore, WR #12) in the women’s draw. Dates Main Draw: Wednesday 3 March – Saturday 6 March 2021 Qualifying Draw: Sunday 28 February – Tuesday 2 March 2021 Main Draw: Monday 8 March – Saturday 13 March 2021 Qualifying Draw: Saturday 6 March – Sunday 7 March 2021 With these events being the first held for the majority of players after many months, the WTT Board has increased the prize money, paid by WTT, for the Middle East Hub. A total prize money pool of USD 600,000 will see USD 200,000 allocated to WTT Contender Doha, while a sum of USD 400,000 will be on offer at WTT Star Contender Doha.