32 cadet players were listed for the maiden Aruna Cadet Invitational Championshipsthat took place at Eko Club in Lagos.
The one-day tournament sponsored and organized by Aruna Sports Club and Academy in conjunction with Eko Club, was part of Africa’s highest-ranked player’s commitment to the development of the sport at the grassroots level.
According to the format of the tournament, the 32 players made up of 16 boys and 16 girls drawn into four groups of four players each in a group. They played a round-robin format with the top two players in each group advancing to the second stage of the competition.
According to a statement made available to journalists, Aruna expressed optimism that helping the young players is another way to raise the profile of the sport and also assist the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) to identify talents at a tender age.
The majority of the players listed for the tournament are Lagos-based while four of them (two boys and two girls) are from Oyo State sponsored by Aruna for the tournament.
Apart from the tournament, Aruna also played matches with some of the members of the clubs and used the event to officially launch the Aruna Sports Club and Academy at Eko Club with four table tennis boards already donated to the club by the two-time Nigeria Open champion.