Fashola to grace 2026 ITTF Africa Youth Cup final

Former Nigeria’s Minister of Works and Housing and ex-Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, is set to be the distinguished guest at the grand finale of the 2026 ITTF Africa Youth Cup. The event is scheduled to take place on Wednesday at the Borteyman Sports Complex in Accra, Ghana.

The two-day tournament has been officially named the Babatunde Raji Fashola (BRF) Cup. This naming recognizes Fashola's significant role in promoting table tennis across Africa, particularly his initiative in launching the Lagos Table Tennis Classics in 2013. He will be joined by other dignitaries, including the President of the African Table Tennis Federation, Wahid Oshodi, and members of the federation's Executive Committee, to support the young athletes.

The competition aims to identify and showcase emerging table tennis talents from various African nations. It also seeks to foster a spirit of healthy competition among the continent's youth, with aspirations of elevating the event to a global standard in the future. Wassim Essid of Tunisia, last year’s U-19 boys’ singles champion, is returning as a strong contender. Algeria's Tania Morice and Bilel Zouitene, previous U-15 winners, are now competing in the U-19 division.

Top seeds in the U-19 category include Tunisia’s Essid and Egypt’s Yara Elbadawy. In the U-15 rankings, Uganda’s Joseph Sebatindira and Tunisia’s Ela Saidi are leading. The boys’ U-19 singles is anticipated to be highly competitive, especially with Nigeria’s Matthew Kuti in excellent form after leading his country to victory against Egypt in the ITTF Africa Youth Championships. In the girls’ U-19 category, Algerian siblings Jade Morice and Tania Morice are expected to challenge the Egyptian favorites.