Being his fifth ITTF-sanctioned this year, Olajide Omotayo is hoping to make it to the knockout stage of the men’s singles at the ITTF Challenge Belgium Open.
The Italy-based Omotayo has arrived in Belgium shaping up for the tournament which serves off tomorrow will be joined in the competition by his compatriots – Kazeem Nosiru and Dotun Aiyelumo.
“I had featured in four tournaments this year and for me I have always been inspired by my performance at the World Championships in Germany. Although, competing at the highest level is not that easy but I will continue to work hard to ensure that I put up good performance. My target in Belgium is to first of all qualify from the group stage and see what is next,” he said.
Omotayo added that the performance of Aruna Quadri has continued to inspire players like him to aim high as Europeans now accord respect to Nigerian and African players. “There is no doubt that the performance of Aruna Quadri coupled with his global recognition has continued to rub off positively on the profile of Nigerian and African players. Whenever we are playing against the Europeans they are always afraid of us thinking that the performance of Aruna Quadri will be similar to our own. But it is also a big challenge for us because we have to also raise our game to measure up with the respect we now command in Europe,” Omotayo added.
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