Table Tennis: 'Toriola, Nigeria's Great Asset'

Segun Toriola of Nigeria serves to Jorge

Segun Toriola of Nigeria

President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, NTTF, Mr. Wahid Enitan Oshodi, has said that Nigerian ping ponger, Olusegun Toriola is a great asset to the country despite being at the twilight of his career in the game.

Oshodi, who is also the Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development in Lagos State debunked the claims in some quarters that Toriola has nothing to offer the country again judging from his performance at the last Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, saying that “Toriola is one of the greatest sportsmen this country has ever produced. We do not contextualise athletes’ performances properly. Six Olympic appearances, seven Commonwealth Games medals including an individual gold, countless African titles, the man is a legend. He has also had to deal with severe injuries in the past four years. Segun played very well but of course time tells on all of us. He was an excellent anchor in the team events especially in the doubles’ matches , where he brought his vast experience to bear on the matches at the Glasgow Games.

“More importantly his assistance to the coaches was really good, especially in that crucial bronze medal match when Ojo Onaolapo ranked 358 in the world had to play the Indian number one player, ranked 44 in the world. The respect he commands from his peers is awe inspiring and of course his match against the world number 12 from Singapore contains one of the greatest moments of the games. That 41 shot rally really emphasises the variety of shots that Segun commands.

Segun Toriola of Nigeria
Segun Toriola of Nigeria

“He is a legend of world table tennis  I think Segun still has a chance to play in the next All Africa Games but even he is now hinting at a career in coaching. I am sure he will be great success as a coach, because he has knowledge, skill and very importantly humility and discipline. He is a great asset to Nigerian table tennis.”

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Oshodi, who is a nomination committee member of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) wants adequate preparation for Team Nigeria ahead of any international championship as this would guarantee good outing.

“We must ensure our preparation is of the highest international standard.

We have improved a great deal over the last year but we must continue to do so. This means ensuring that we have programmes all season long so that our players can be monitored and coached properly. We must also find better ways to monitor our players who are playing abroad. It is obvious from the performances of many them during the Lagos Open that they cannot be playing seriously abroad. We will continue to find ways to improve our coaches, administrators and even Umpires.

“We will need to find more funding for our programmes. Hopefully our modest achievement in the last two months will help convince the National Sports Commission to support our programmes, especially in attending international events. Our players need to compete against the best in the world regularly. That is the only way we can continue to beat this players. We have seen that the gap between our players and the best in the World is not that wide, so we must find ways to bridge that gap. The performance of Onaolapo and Quadri tells us that we are on the right course, at least in the men’s game,” he said.

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