National referee and umpire at the just concluded WTT Contenders Lagos 2023 has called on the NTTF (Nigeria Table Tennis Federation) to prioritize discovering potentials at the grassroots level and creating a viable atmosphere for the players to develop properly which will make them compete as they should.
Osoba didn’t fail to applaud the NTTF’s successful hosting of the World Table Tennis Championship admitting that it was indeed a success, a good one for Nigeria, the development of the country, and for the players, Sports247.ng reports.
Nigeria’s players didn’t have a good outing as all top players in the country fell short in the first round and for those that made it to the second round, they were dispatched easily by their opponents, a situation that calls for concern.
“Sure, actually, it calls for attention, developing the game and talent and not just the promotional aspect of it. When it comes to development, a concerted effort should be given to raising players from the grassroots, making it a conscious and deliberate decision,” Osoba assessed in an exclusive interview with Sports247.ng.
“Going to the grassroots is going to be very costly if we truly want to have the best players in the game if the central body can take the lead and get to the states, local governments to get these players but as I said earlier, it’s costly, expensive and tasking.”
‘There’s much work that needs to be done going forward both from government, private bodies.”
Over the years, we have seen Funke Oshonaike and Aruna Quadri holding on to the helms of table tennis both in Nigeria and in major world tournaments and it doesn’t look like the country has worthy potential to take over.
“We have players to fill in the boots of Aruna Quadri, and Funke Oshoniake but it won’t just happen by luck, it’s systematic, sports have gone beyond potential when you have potential, you add science to it.”
“Let’s take a look at Tobi Amusan, the athletic champion, she has talents but it’s not enough at this time, it’s is subject to the science of it, environment, materials, and many things put together.”
The NTTF president in his interview revealed that the federation will look to recruit foreign coaches to train the female stars as they look to get back in full gear ahead of the Olympics.
“I’m not thinking in the direction of foreign coaches, right now, I’m focusing on the development of the players which is paramount,” he stated.
