Nigeria, a country with an outstanding reputation in events organised in the continent of Africa and in the Commonwealth, has withdrawn from the ITTF-African Senior Championships.

The week long tournament commencess in the Egypt's capital city, Cairo, on Saturday 17th November and concludes on Friday 23rd November 2012. The stated reason is that the visit did not receive government clearance.

An immediate effect is that Egypt becomes the top seeds in both the Men’s and Women’s Team events, with Congo Brazzaville in second spot and Algeria third on both occasions.

Host Nation Line Up
Ahmed Saleh, who was present in the English city of Liverpool earlier this year in late September for the LIEBHERR Men’s World Cup, leads the Egyptian Men’s Team in their quest for gold.

He is named in a five man outfit alongside El-Sayed Lashin, Omar Assar Mohamed El-Beiali and Ahmed Nadim are the players nominated to represent Egypt in the Men’s Team event with Dina Meshref, Nadeen El-Dawlatly, Farah Abdel-Aziz, Shaimaa Andel-Aziz and Reem El-Shobary forming the Egyptian Women’s Team.

Stern Challenge
Unquestionably on home soil, the Egyptian outfits are strong favourites to lift the respective Men’s and Women’s Team titles; both Congo Brazzaville and Algeria face stern challenges if they are to dislodge the host nation from the pinnacle of the podium.

Suraju Saka who was the African representative at the LIEBHERR Men’s World Cup in the German city of Magdeburg in October 2010 leads the Congo Brazzaville Men’s Team, with Han Xing who was in action at the VOLKSWAGEN Women’s World Cup in 2009 in Guangzhou, leading the ladies outfit.

The Line Up
Han Xing is supported by Oniyinchechi Nwachukwu, Fatimo Bisiriyu and Jolie Mafuta-Ivoso; whilst Saheed Idowu, Stellin Ntandou and Christ Bienatiki line up alongside Suraju Saka.

Singapore Youth Olympian on Duty
Meanwhile, Mohamed Boudjaja, Larbi Bouriah, Idir Khourta and Sami Kherouf complete the Algerian Men’s Team; with Islem Laid, who competed in the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, heading the Algerian female quartet.

She is supported by Fatiha Bouclaras, Chahinez Bougadoum and Yasmine Nasri.

Two Stages
In the Men’s Team event, proceeding commence with teams drawn into two groups, four teams in each group; the teams finishing in first and second places in each group proceeding to the semi-finals, the remaining teams competing for the lower position.

Egypt, Togo, Libya, Madagascar and Senegal form one group; the adjacent group comprises Congo Brazzaville, Algeria, South Africa, Cameroon and the Ivory Coast.

One Group
Two stages in the Men’s Team event; in the counterpart Women’s Team competition it is just one stage; all six teams – Egypt, Congo Brazzaville, Algeria, Madagascar, Djibouti, South Africa – meet on an all play all basis.

Entry
The total entry is 92 players, 58 men and 34 women; in addition to the countries competing in the team events, players from Burundi, Kenya, Mauritius and Sudan had registered for the individual events.


So.....we cant get government clearance to send our players to Egypt? lol......God help us o!!!