Sports
ITTF Lists Aruna, Other Nigerians For Tokyo 2020
Nigeria’s Edem Offiong, Olufunke Oshonaike, Olajide Omotayo and Quadri Aruna are among the 135 players listed by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) for the singles events of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics scheduled for Japan next month.
Participation at the Tokyo 2020 Games will make Olufunke Oshonaike the first woman table tennis player in the world to feature in seven Olympic Games and the first African woman in any sport to participate in seven editions of the global fiesta.
Nigeria’s Segun Toriola, who is among the four athletes to have played in their seventh Games, is not listed among the competitors this term.
In a newsletter sent to Tidesports source, yesterday, the ITTF said 65 men and 70 women would contest for the medals at the Games, while 16 countries would vie for medals in the mixed doubles event. Nigeria did not qualify for the team events of the competition and therefore are not among the teams listed for the mixed doubles.
The table tennis event will hold at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium from July 24 to August 6, 2021. According to ITTF, the “mixed doubles event will make its debut at this year’s Olympics and sees pairs of two players, one woman and one man, competing on a single-elimination knock-out. Three medals are at stake at the mixed doubles event with each National Olympic Committee (NOC) allowed to feature one pair.”
The ITTF added: “All eyes will also be on Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna as he leads the African charge after being the first African to make the quarter-finals in the Rio games in 2016.
“The qualification system for the Tokyo Olympics is based on the following:
16 teams (per gender) are allocated for the men’s and women’s team events, and these places are given concurrently with other qualification events.
“A maximum of 70 places (per gender) are available for the men’s and women’s singles events. The final number will be determined based on the players who have qualified for the other events. There are a total of 86 players per gender across all three events. 16 mixed doubles pairs are available for the mixed doubles event.”
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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