Lagos -Babatunde Obisanya, a former national table tennis coach, on Monday commended the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) for appointing a foreign technical adviser to strengthen the technical crew ahead of the All Africa Games (AAG).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that had NTTF announced the appointment of Martin Adomeit, former German National Coach, as its technical adviser.
The federation said that the hiring of the coach was made possible through the financial support of the National Sports Commission (NSC).
A statement by the NTTF said the new technical adviser was expected to arrive the country this week to start working with the team in readiness for the AAG.
Commenting on the decision, Obisanya, said that the coach would bring his good experience to the bear on the players to help them perform optimally.
“I am happy with the decision made by the federation. I am pleased with their concern about moving table tennis forward; it is a step in the right direction.
“I am sure that the coach, with all his experience, will be able to relate with the players so as to help them step up their performance at the games,’’ he said.
The former African champion described the technical department as the “powerhouse’’ of the team.
“I think the federation has finally found a way to co-opt a technically sound coach with proven records to the team.
“ A coach is a visionary leader of the team. He is someone who knows the technicalities and can proffer solutions in the game and to the players.
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“Someone who knows his onions well enough that the players respect and look up to.
“He should be someone who can spot out the differences, strengths and shortcomings of his players.
“The only problem is that the coach has very little knowledge about Nigerian players and their opponents.
“Bringing him now on the eve of the games may be a 50-50 situation for the team in Congo. All I can wish the team and the coach is best of luck,’’ Obisanya said.
Bankole Anderson, the technical director of NTTF, said that the federation brought in a competent hand to help achieve the body’s goal of winning laurels at the games.
“It is of good note to know that the federation wants to achieve good results at the games; in order to strengthen the technical department, we are co-opting Martins.
“The technical crew are the base of any team that is the reason we are strengthening it.
“I am happy we are doing this; this should not be a new thing to our hearing, because even the host country has a Chinese as their technical adviser.
“The basic assignment of the technical adviser is to help guide the coaches on how best to handle the players and match reading during the competition,’’ he said. (NAN)
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