We Are Building Future Stars In Lagos State, Says Modinat

An honorary coach of Lagos State Table Tennis Association, Malik Modinat, has said that the crop of young talented table tennis players participating in the ongoing six weeks intensive training programme at the Mobolaji Johnson sportshall, Rowe Park, Yaba, are the country's  future champions.

Modinat, a Gold Medalist at the 1999, West African University Games, held in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, said the exercise would elevate the status of the young ping -pongers to become better players,stressing that similar programme has helped Egyptian Table Tennis to produce one of the best African table tennis players, in Omar Assar.

According to her, Lagos State is on the verge of  regenerating and nurturing its players to stardom with basic and fundamental techniques being impacted on them as she advised the players to have the right attitude towards improving their skills in a bid to attract invitation to national camp.

She said the Lagos State Table Tennis Association, LSTTA, had brightened the career of the ping-pongers, majority of whom were drawn from the just concluded Alhaji Kola Oseni under 15 table tennis championship through the programme which has changed their psyche, attitude and skills for better, adding that the programme has been able to build confidence in them coupled with endurance which most of them lack.

On the short term training programme, the Gold medalist at 2000 National Sports Festival in Bauchi, urged the LSTTA not to relent in her efforts to continue with the intensive training programme as she said that the last Lagos International Table Tennis classic showed that Nigerian ping-pongers are naturally gifted but there is need for developmental training programmes of this nature to redeem their image in international competitions.

On the forthcoming National Youth Games in Abuja, Modinat, is optimistic that the state ping-pongers who are undergoing the programme would make the state proud following their positive response to training and their zeal to acquire new skills to help them become one of the nation’s top ranked players.

The one-time winner of Asoju-Oba, Women’s Single,s thanked the board of LSTTA for providing sports grants to the table tennis players who are taking part in the exercise as the gesture has been a motivating factor encouraging them to turn out in large number for the event.

Chairman of Lagos State Table Tennis Association, Femi Sokoya, confirmed that sixteen players drawn from  the last held Alhaji Kola Oseni under - 15 table tennis championship and those who had played at the last National School Sports Games in Portharcourt as well as four established Lagos State table tennis players,Mojeed Olayiwola, Ayo Omotara, Olayinka Taiwo and Tolu Durosimi- Etti, had been undregoing intensive training which is supervised by Samson Ajayi and Moliki Modinat.

"Whether we performed better at the EKO 2012 Games, it does not have anything to do with this programme.We as association in Lagos State, we strongly believe in the development of table tennis, that's one of our main focuses to develop the game, to bring back the love  of table tennis to Lagos State and Nigeria and to take table tennis back to the street where you have playing spots all over the place".