Nigeria, Others For ITTF-ATTF Africa Hopes Week Challenge In Kenya

Nigeria and other African countries are at present undergoing intensive training cum competition at the 2014 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)-Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) U-12 Africa Hopes Week and Challenge taking place in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Nigeria four-man team is made up of Michael Obayanmi, Ibrahim Umar (male) and Rophia Jimoh and Habibat Olawale (female) and tutored by Coach Friday Abah.

Beside the four-day training exercise to be handled by top ITTF coach, the participating teams will compete in a two-day tournament to decide the eight players that will be offered scholarships to attend the 2014 ITTF World Hopes Week & Challenge to be held in Otocec, Slovenia) in June this year.

The event organized by ATTF and Kenya Table Tennis Association (KTTA)  will hold at the Safaricom Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, Nairobi.

Each participating team will be represented by a maximum of two boys and two girls, while the host – Kenya will be represented by a maximum of four boys and four girls.

According to Africa Development Officer, Ahmed Dawlatly, the top four players in the singles tournament for boys and girls would automatically be selected for the scholarships.

For the President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid  Oshodi, efforts would be geared toward grassroots development, as it is obvious that other nations are now catching up with Nigeria in the game.

“We have identified that we need to start encouraging our young players and this is one of the vision of the federation and for us this kind of programme will surely help us to expose our players to top class training and competition. We were luck to have such programme last year  and we hope our players will also garner more knowledge by taking part in this exercise holding in Kenya,” “ he said.

The Nigeria Team was also accompanied by players’ representative in the NTTF board, Tajudeen Agunbiade while the trip was made possible with the singular support of Mr. Bankole Animashaun, a friend of table tennis.