With major success recorded in the last two years, President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Enitan-Oshodi says the federation will not be distracted by the achievements recorded in the sport.
Enitan-Oshodi, who is a member of the Nomination Committee of International Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), confirmed that there are still more grounds to conquer, adding that the rise of Aruna Quadri and the bronze medal won at the last Commonwealth Games in Scotland would not make the NTTF lose focus on their objectives.
“Definitely we are not satisfied with what we have achieved and this is where a lot of people get it wrong. We are still living on past glory because our current generation of players have not done much. Aruna Quadri’s achievement last year and our team medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games are now history.
“We need to move on from that as our next major test as a nation is at the Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville. We need to fight hard for the seven gold medals at stake. If we can take all seven golds as we used to do many years past, that might satisfy my hunger for success for a short period. There are still so many mountains to climb and we are currently at the peak of a small hill. We must, in the nearest future aim to be number one in Africa and the Commonwealth, as well as a top ten nation in the world.
“It is achievable but we must set about doing our work properly both players and officials,” Oshodi
said.
The NTTF boss identified funding as a major issue slowing down the progress of the federation, he explained that most of their programmes have been cancelled due to lack of funds.
“For me, I see that we have major problems in two critical areas and they include inadequate funding, indiscipline and lack of commitment on the part of some of our players.
“We need money to fund our programmes, training, equipment, kitting and attending to the needs of the players, participating in tournaments abroad are some of the areas that we need money for.
“The lack of funding is hampering our progress. Some of our players still need to be more professional in their outlook while their lack of respect for coaches and officials is something that militates against their development. We have some excellent role models in our game and we have to continue to educate the young players to emulate these good models”, he added.
Enitan-Oshodi continued: “I am personally canvassing a stricter disciplinary process for the federation. If you misbehave you will not have a place in the national team. We will continue to find ways to fund our sport in light of the inadequate funding we receive from the government. We understand that we are not football but I make bold to say that if we had five percent of what football gets we would show much greater success,”.
On coaching, he said: “We are addressing the issue of coaching but again funding is critical to our plans. We need to expose our coaches and I believe we need to bring in a few coaches with vast experience to assist us. From what I have seen in China and all over the world, coaches are a very vital cog in the success of a team.”
Nigeria is getting ready to feature at the ITTF World Junior Circuit tagged Egypt Open, scheduled for June 8th – 12th in Cairo.
Ten players will represent the country at the championships.
