LAGOS – Table tennis players on Monday in Lagos commended the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) for organising the National Club’s team league.
Some of the players, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the tournament provided healthy platform for exposure.
Oladele Kehinde, a senior player in Nigeria Police Force team, commended NTTF for organising regular competitions to encourage players to remain focus and busy.
“I want to appreciate Wahid Oshodi, the President of NTTF, because of his commitment to table tennis. All other federations should emulate him.
“The tournament is also helping us to improve our skills and enhance our personal development in the game; I hope Police team will win the tournament.
“I have already played eight matches; I lost three and won five. We still have four matches to play and by God’s grace we will win,” Kehinde said.
Ololade Oyenekan, a cadet player for the Olufab Table Tennis Club, lauded the welfare provided by the NTTF.
“They are taking good care of us and I must commend them, the accommodation is good and everywhere is conducive which is good.
“I am impressed; I am working hard to win my remaining games. We have already won three games out of six, and I have two more games to play and I hope to win them,” Oyenekan said.
Agnes Onoja, a junior level player for G20 Table Tennis club, also commended NTTF for “a well-planned tournament’’.
“The federation has tried in the area of accommodation, and is also encouraging the junior players, but I hope they continue in this way to keep encouraging players and engage us in competitions.
“We want the federation to also expose us to international competitions; it is not enough to have competition at the national level without international exposure. [eap_ad_2] “I am quite happy because the tournament has exposed us and is keeping us in shape for other tournaments, both national and international.
“I have played in three doubles games and won two and also played in two singles games and won one.
“I am happy about my performance and I hope to win the remaining two games,’’ Onoja said.
Micheal Obayomi, a cadet player for Team Secretariat Table Tennis club, said he was enjoying the tournament in spite of his defeat in all the seven games he had participated in.
“I really am happy about the tournament because it makes me know my strength and weakness in the game.
“It shows that I can be better and also exposes me to the style of play of other players; so I will come back and do better than this next year,’’ Obayomi said.
Animasaun Abayomi, a 11-year-old player of the Team Secretary Club, expressed the confidence that he would win in the end.
“I am playing alongside Ibrahim Umar, who is 12 years of age.
“Our opponents are older than us in age, we never expected to meet older people in the competition; all the same, we are not in any way intimidated,’’ he said.
According to him, playing with older people is a good experience for younger players.
“It is really good that the young players are given the opportunity to play against older players; this will make us acquire more knowledge thereby improving our skills.
“Our defeat to Unilag is never a setback, I am very much optimistic we would win our remaining matches,” he said.
The tournament, holding at the Molade Thompson Okoya indoor sports hall at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, served off Oct. 8 and will end on Oct. 17.
Sixteen male clubs and seven female clubs are participating in the tournament.
(NAN) [eap_ad_3]
