President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi, has said that the nation’s table tennis players have the capacity to excel globally if extra funding were added to the top-level commitment they put into their careers.
Presenting the NTTF scorecard in the last one year, Oshodi said the year 2016 has been a memorable one, particularly the exploits of the nation’s table tennis team at the Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.
According to him, more grassroots competitions, workshops and coaching clinics would be organised next year to enable the federation discover more players around the country.
“These plans will give our coaches the opportunity to further develop their knowledge so that they can better harness the skills of our young players and finding the resources to expose our best players to life on the professional tour at both junior and senior levels, funding is key to all these. We started the year with five of our players taking part in the Hungary Open, the first pro-tour of the event of the year. It is difficult financially but we continue to try our best,” Oshodi said.
meanwhile, Africa’s top table tennis player — SegunToriola believes country’s there, could learn from the Chinese model for prosperity. The Nigerian, discussed that with CCTV’s SaddiqueShaban, as well his goal to reach an eighth Olympic Games.
At forty two, SegunToriola looks younger and athletic than most players his age. Undisputable African champion since 2009, the Nigeria international downplays his dominance strategy.
“It is a lot of sacrifice. When you want to be on top of you have to make a lot of sacrifice. Your lifestyle is going to change. You need to work very hard, very hard training and you need to program yourself,” Toriola said.
The multiple African gold medalist has appeared at every games since Barcelona 1992
“For me , it is wonderful to play seven Olympics and not only for me, but for African players and especially in Nigeria . All the young players are happy about it and for me to participate in seven Olympics for young players in Nigeria, it boosts their spirits and their morale, you know, and they want to work harder to be like me,” Toriola said.
During his 21 year table tennis career, Toriola says his biggest inspiration has been Chinese players. Having competed at the 2008 Olympics, the Nigerian says Africa could learn a lot from their success story.
He may not have won any medals at the Olympic Games, but the two-time commonwealth games gold medalist became just the third table tennis player in history to compete at seven Olympic games.
The most decorated player in Africa is just warming up for his biggest challenge yet. A veteran of seven summer Olympic Games, SegunToriola is eyeing his final shot- at the 2020 games in Japan.
