National Table Tennis coach Nasir Bello has stated that the achievement of some of the emerging table tennis athletes that showed brilliance and caused upsets at the recently concluded National Sports Festival will amount to nothing if the few distinguished athletes do not have platforms in terms of competition to consolidate on the achievement.
Young Table Tennis star Nimota Aregbesola pulled an upset against former African champion Funke Oshonaike in the women singles event while several upsets were also witnessed at the festival which came to anend over the weekend in the country’s capital.
Speaking with Sports247.ng Bello has called on the Table Tennis Federation to engage the players in different local tournaments across the country and also ensure that the brightest talents get to play the best in the world at the international level. “We are happy about the upsets because it is a positive that the young ones are not sleeping but fighting to be the best by beating the best.
“Despite everything we have seen, it will only be good and fair if the federation through the state associations on a regular basis host competitions to keep these young players in shape. As it stands now we don’t have enough tournament to engage them year round but if we do, Table Tennis in Nigeria will become what other countries will envy us for.”
Bello also noted that momentum builds with competitions and these the players would need to continue their growth process without which everything done at the games would end up been a one of eventually.
