by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

It will be the sixth time the tournament has been staged, the first being in Congo Brazzaville when the host nation’s Avenir Club won both Men’s and Women’s title.

Furthermore, it will be the third occasion when Morocco has played host; Rabat was the home in 2009 and 2011. Egypt’s Zamalek Club emerged the Men’s winner in both editions with Avenir succeeding in 2009 and Canaan Queen of Nigeria in 2011.

Organised every two years, the Cairo based El Ahly Club won in 2015 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Notably it is the club which is the home for the majority of Egypt’s leading players. Omar Assar and El-Sayed Lashin are both members of the club, as are Dina Meshref and Nadeen El-Dawlatly. No doubt they will be present in force to defend the title.

One club from each association affiliated to the African Table Tennis Federation may compete in each of the Men’s Team and Women’s Team events, with the exception that two clubs from host nation may participate and a further club from Egypt may enter with El Ahly being the reigning champions.

The present day format as used in the World Team Championships will be adopted (A v X, B v Y, C v Z, A v Y, B v X); should in either event the number of entries be five or less, then play will take place a group all-play-all formula. Should more than six teams participate in an event; a group phase followed by a progressive knock-out stage will ensue.

Seeding will be as per the African Ranking list for June 2017, the draw will take place on Tuesday 27th June; the final entries must by advised on or before Thursday 15th June.

Contact:
Adham Ashour, ITTF Competition Manager    Email: [email protected]

Mokhtar Toukabry, ATTF Technical Committee Chair   Email: [email protected]