Lagos Table Tennis Classics: Peters Wants Unbiased Officiating

The Nigeria Table Tennis Umpires Association (NTTUA) has, urged its members chosen for the maiden Lagos International Table Tennis Classics to officiate in accordance with the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rules.

The competition starts today with the qualifying matches, while the main draws hold from 26-31 August at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

John Peters, the President of the association told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that the standard of officiating would determine the competition’s credibility and speak volume for the country.

“My advice to umpires generally is that they must officiate in accordance with the rules and regulations of ITTF.

“There is no provision for indiscretion, so they must do as it is done everywhere else so as to have credibility for this tournament.

“If there are so many complaints over officiating, the tendency is for the ITTF to think that it was not well organised and that is why we are organising a three day seminar ahead of the competition, although a lot of the umpires know what to do and we are sure that they are very intelligent,’’ he said.

He noted that the last seminar held before the 2012 National Sports Festival (NSF) proved that the umpires understood what they were taught.

“What most of them learnt at the 2012 seminar has been put to practice because most of the umpires officiated at the NSF and we recorded no complaint.

“I have always warned umpires that once they get to the table they are neutral and must remain so, no matter their state background; there should be no bias.

“The umpires are referred to as arbiters of the rules and they must remain so. It is natural for players to complain, particularly when they lose, they want to hold somebody else responsible  for their loss.

“So, if there are complaints we will look into them but we will follow laid down rules and treat every case accordingly.

“If we are not convinced, we will have to tell the cameramen covering the match for the footage to find out where the problem lies,’’ he said.

The competition will  feature 10 events, the men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles, the men’s and women’s team events, the junior boys and the junior girls.