Okenla-Ojeaga Under 17 Table Tennis Championship To Debut In Lagos

As part of her contribution to unearth talents as well as encourage grassroots development, former national player, Toyin Okenla-Ojeaga is planning to bankroll U-17 table tennis tournament in Lagos State.

 The tourney tagged Okenla-Ojeaga U-17 table tennis championship is being organised in collaboration with Office of Sports, Lagos State Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development will have students from schools in Lagos taking in six-day tournament holding at the Mobolaji Sports Centre, Rowe Park.

According to United States-based former table tennis star, the competition is meant to compliment the efforts of the Lagos State government at promoting and developing sports at grassroots level.

“For me sports helped me a lot in life because it gave me direction and built my self-esteemed. So it became necessary for me to see how I can help to impart same qualities on others.


During our days, we had lot of encouragement from the government and individuals. But today, it is not like that so we want to use the tournament to inspire the young players to dream big in life,” she said.

The Bendel 1981 National Sports Festival medalist added: “I want to assure that this competition is not going to be a one-off competition as we will ensure that it is a yearly event competed for by the students because we also want to encourage the athletes not to neglect schools while still active because after quitting sports, they should still remain relevant.

We believe that combine sports with education will always give any athlete an edge because in U. S. you cannot do sports with low grade,” Okenla-Ojeaga said.

For her, the current Director of Sports at the University of Lagos, Cecilia Arinye remains a good role model must desire to emulate, adding that despite Arinye’s immense commitment to the national team, she never allowed her education to suffer.

 “I think Arinye’s story should also inspire today’s athletes to take their education serious while still active.” The tournament has been fixed for January 21 to 26, 2013.