Nigerian female tennis player, Offiong Edem has taken a look at her exploits in the ping-pong game, and sports247.ng can report that she sees 2018 as year filled with gains and misses for her.
Edem, who is rated top of Nigeria’s female table tennis stars, said her achievements in the game would have been better had she been exposed to better quality training and facilities at an early age, but admitted it has not been too bad for her after all.
The 31-year-old Edem, who won bronze at both the ITTF Africa Top 16 and Africa Senior Table Tennis Championship this year, said she was happy to have featured in the All Africa Games in 2007, which she says was a highpoint of her career.
Edem declared: “It’s been mixed for me. I won bronze at the ITTF Africa Top 16 in Kenya in March before I came home for the Nigeria Open but I couldn’t go far.
“With the team in the ITTF Africa Senior Championships in Mauritius, we won silver in the team event and I was beaten in the semi-final of the women’s singles by Dina Meshref.
“I will say I’ve had a good year but the Nigeria Open was the most difficult tournament I’ve played in this year.
“The Chinese players who attended – even though they were relatively known – gave all of us a tough time and it showed that we have a long way to go in the sport.
“The Chinese start the sport very early and at a tender age they have learnt the technicalities of the game.
“When you are playing against them and think you have the game under control, they change it and before you adjust to that, they have beaten you.
“It is really tough playing against them. African players don’t have the luxury of starting table tennis as early as the Chinese players and the investment in the sport is not there like that of the Chinese.
“We need more investment in players, equipment and enlightenment for us to catch up with them.”
