Table tennis star Quadri Aruna has been unanimously chosen as the captain of Team Nigeria to the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan, the NationSport can exclusively report.
Feelers from the National Sports Federations meeting held in Abuja on Monday hinted that Aruna was suggested by some of the athletes and he was unanimously accepted by all and sundry.
Aruna who became the first African to reach the quarterfinal round of the table tennis event after his quarterfinal finish at Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil will be making his third appearance at the Olympic Games in Japan next month.
The 2014 World Table Tennis Player of the Year will be assisted by the captain of the national women basketball team, Adaora Elonu.
Equally, World and Commonwealth wrestling medalist Odunayo Adekuoroye was chosen as the flag bearer while she will be assisted by African record holder in the long jump Ese Brume.
Meanwhile, the first batch of Team Nigeria contingent is expected to depart the country to Japan on Tuesday, July 6 while the second batch will leave on July 13. For the Paralympic Games, Team Nigeria will depart on August 8, while a 14-day Pre-Games Training Camp (PGTC) for the athletes will be held in Kisarazu, which is in southwest-central Chiba in Japan.
Nigeria will compete in three relay events at Tokyo following the expiration of the June 29 qualification date set by the World Athletics (WA).
The women’s 4X100m and 4X400m will compete for honours alongside the 15 others while Nigeria will be among the 16 countries that will be debuting at the Olympic Games in the mixed 4X400m relay race.
