.gif)
Nigeria Table Tennis Federation.....
On January 26, 2026, the draw was made in London, and with it the past seemed to lean gently into the present. Exactly a century after the first ITTF World Table Tennis Championships were played on English soil in 1926, the sport returned home—older, faster, and watched by the world.
Two iconic London venues waited as 64 men’s teams and 64 women’s teams prepared for thirteen days of relentless rallies and quiet courage. The road to glory was clear but unforgiving: Stage 1B group battles to earn survival, Stage 1A seeding matches for the elite, and finally Stage 2—the knockout rounds where history would choose its heroes.
Among the names read aloud at the draw was Nigeria.
In the men’s event, Nigeria found itself in Stage 1B, Group 15, standing shoulder to shoulder with Hong Kong, China, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia. Different flags, different styles, but one shared dream—advancing on the sport’s most symbolic stage.
Not far away in the draw hall, the Nigerian women listened as their path was revealed. Stage 1B, Group 11: Australia, Uzbekistan, Wales—and Nigeria. A tough group, yet one rich with possibility, where every match promised belief as much as skill.
As the draw concluded, the balls were returned to their glass bowls, but the journey had already begun. In the city where table tennis first learned to speak to the world, new stories were ready to be written—by familiar giants, and by teams like Nigeria, carrying hope, rhythm, and ambition into a centenary celebration that belonged to everyone.
