Table Tennis: Player Slams NTTF

A Table-Tennis player, Idowu Akinyemi has taken a swipe at the Nigeria Table tennis  Federation, NTTF, for not being fair in its  selection of players for international  competitions.

She said this is resposnibile for the dwindling fortunes of the sport in the country. The  athlete said Nigeria would have been a force to reckon with if the administrators had  been fair enough in selecting athletes for international competitions.

She opined that if the administrators have been transparent in picking athletes for  tourneys, the sport could have developed better than what the country is experiencing  now. She frowned at the criteria used for picking athletes for competitions.

According to the athlete, who once represented Ogun State at the National Sports  Festival, NSF,  “table-tennis is suffering in Nigeria because our administrators are  always biased.  Athletes like us  train for competitions but when it is time for  selection, the officials would bring their friends and families to represent the country  and at the end of the day, these athletes would disappoint the nation.”

She stated that it is high time the administrators had a change of attitude if the sport  must be taken to greater heights in the country, stressing that except they change their  attitude, the sport would continue to suffer.

The player however charged the National Sports Commission, NSC, to be up and doing,  adding that if the NSC can sanitise Nigerian sports, it would be better for all  concerned.

“The NSC has little to better the lot of the athletes. We want the authority to do more  for us. There is dearth of table tennis tournaments in the country.  We always train but  there are no competitions to showcase our talents. But for the spirited Nigerian like  Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas, who has been sponsoring the Asoju Oba tournament and a host of  others, we would have been redundant. I think something has to be done and it must be  urgent,” she said.

—Alawode  Adebobola